Glyphosategirl (Kelly Ryerson) gives a detailed account of day 2 and touches upon her past health problems which mimic almost exactly what one of my family members has experienced.

PHASE 2, DAY 2 – MIND-BLOWING ADMISSIONS by Glyphosate Girl

Donna Farmer: Surfactants are named for surface acting substances, because they act on the surface of cells. Unlike when you have surfactants in body soap, you have a tough layer of skin to help protect your other cells from that. Your GI system doesn’t have that protective layer. Those surfactants are very disruptive to those really delicate cells that are in the lining of the GI system.

And there we have it. Supportive evidence that the explosion of modern disease is connected to the mega-consumption of Roundup destroying our intestinal linings. I just never anticipated the information to come from the Monsanto labs and mouth of the Monsanto senior toxicologist herself. Does she have any idea the door that she has just opened?

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As many will remember, Monsanto Toxicologist Dr. Donna Farmer – AKA the Defender of Glyphosate – had a reasonably strong (for the defense) video deposition in the Johnson trial as so much evidence of Monsanto’s bad behavior was excluded from discussion. Things have changed. Attorney Plaintiff Brent Wisner’s aggressive, dynamic questioning in today’s Farmer deposition video reveals more information than even GG knew. Jurors frantically fill their notebooks with details, and journalists pound away on keyboards because every single word is just that rich and revealing. It’s hard for me to contain my gasps. Oh my goodness, where to even start with this one. OK.

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Wisner presents a series of articles and corresponding internal emails, providing ample evidence of the sketchy behavior of Farmer and Dr. William Heydens, Monsanto Regulatory Product Safety Assessment Lead. Bummer for them that email lasts forever, because I’m not sure how Monsanto ever recovers from the details revealed.

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Wisner continues, pointing out that Monsanto epidemiologist Acquavella also stated that “it looks like NHL and other lymphopoietic cancers continue to be the main cancer epidemiology issues for both glyphosate and alachlor.”

Farmer responds “That’s what he is saying, but once again, it wasn’t our concern. This is from the epidemiology studies, but not from the studies and the animal data we had. It wasn’t a concern for us.”

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Plaintiff Attorney Brent Wisner: When you say the surfactant is disruptive to the GI system, what do you mean? Tell us a little more about what that actually means as far as the animal ingesting surfactant or the formulated product that includes a surfactant.

Donna Farmer: Surfactants are named for surface acting substances, because they act on the surface of cells. Unlike when you have surfactants in body soap, you have a tough layer of skin to help protect your other cells from that. Your GI system doesn’t have that protective layer. Those surfactants are very disruptive to those really delicate cells that are in the lining of the GI system.

And there we have it. Supportive evidence that the explosion of modern disease is connected to the mega-consumption of Roundup destroying our intestinal linings. I just never anticipated the information to come from the Monsanto labs and mouth of the Monsanto senior toxicologist herself. Does she have any idea the door that she has just opened?

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CONTINUATION OF THE DEPOSITION OF DONNA FARMER

As many will remember, Monsanto Toxicologist Dr. Donna Farmer – AKA the Defender of Glyphosate – had a reasonably strong (for the defense) video deposition in the Johnson trial as so much evidence of Monsanto’s bad behavior was excluded from discussion. Things have changed. Attorney Plaintiff Brent Wisner’s aggressive, dynamic questioning in today’s Farmer deposition video reveals more information than even GG knew. Jurors frantically fill their notebooks with details, and journalists pound away on keyboards because every single word is just that rich and revealing. It’s hard for me to contain my gasps.

Oh my goodness, where to even start with this one. OK.

The video depicts Farmer sitting at a table, with attorneys all off screen. It shouldn’t matter, but I’ll tell you anyway – she is dressed sharply, with a crisp button-down shirt, dark blazer, chunky pearl necklace, and long, tamed, and red curly hair falling down around her shoulders. She takes her glasses on and off, pending on whether the question requires reading or not. Her appearance is professional and appropriate in giving a competent first impression.

Farmer explains her role at Monsanto as one of responsibility for getting to know the science behind glyphosate, communicating that science, and working through the regulatory agencies to get glyphosate products approved for sale.

Wisner presents a series of articles and corresponding internal emails, providing ample evidence of the sketchy behavior of Farmer and Dr. William Heydens, Monsanto Regulatory Product Safety Assessment Lead. Bummer for them that email lasts forever, because I’m not sure how Monsanto ever recovers from the details revealed.

DeRoos 2003

In an email exchange between Monsanto ecotoxicologist Katherine Carr, Monsanto epidemiologist Dr. Acquavella, Dr. Farmer and others, Carr calls the DeRoos 2003 paper to attention. The DeRoos study concludes that there is a 2.1x risk ratio of developing NHL with exposure to glyphosate. Clearly sparking concern, Acquavella writes: “strangely, glyphosate looks to be one of the pesticides most associated with NHL in this analysis.” He expresses concern that this study, in addition to Hardell and McDuffie studies that showed an increased risk of NHL with exposure to glyphosate, could add “fuel to the fire.”

Wisner asks: “Would it be fair to say that Hardell, McDuffie and now DeRoos, all showing elevated risks of NHL associated with glyphosate, was creating concern that in fact Roundup might cause NHL?”

Farmer gives a clumsy response: “No, I don’t think it was a concern that Roundup caused NHL. I think there were epidemiology publications out there. From what I understand from John, there were….one had exposure…there were differences in these studies…so it wasn’t a concern for …that Roundup was causing NHL.”

Farmer’s words become choppy and rapid, and clearly she is feeling stressed. I’m not sure why she didn’t answer: OF COURSE we were worried, but felt confident that we still had enough research to support our conclusion.

Wisner continues, pointing out that Monsanto epidemiologist Acquavella also stated that “it looks like NHL and other lymphopoietic cancers continue to be the main cancer epidemiology issues for both glyphosate and alachlor.”

Farmer responds “That’s what he is saying, but once again, it wasn’t our concern. This is from the epidemiology studies, but not from the studies and the animal data we had. It wasn’t a concern for us.”

WHAT? I thought that Monsanto relied mostly on epidemiology to prove the non-carcinogenic profile of glyphosate. Why would she publically dismiss a human study in favor of the animal studies?

Eriksson and Combating Organic

Farmer is shown an email from 2008 between Farmer and Dean Nasser, reporting on the recent Eriksson epidemiological study that found a 2.02 odds ratio of NHL from glyphosate exposure. Nasser sent the group an October 28th article from a GG favorite website, Beyond Pesticides, which highlighted the results of the Eriksson study. Beyond Pesticides recommended people “avoid carcinogenic herbicides in foods by supporting organic agriculture and on lawns by using nontoxic land care strategies that rely on soil health, non-toxic herbicides.” Sounds like a reasonable measure in general, but apparently not if you are in the business of peddling pesticides.

In response, Farmer writes in the group email: “We have been aware of this paper for a while and knew it would only be a matter of time before the activists pick it up…How do we combat this?” She is looking to combat organic and nontoxic agriculture, despite what should be considered an alarming epidemiological study that glyphosate may cause NHL.

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The conversation and debate about what constitutes ghostwriting continues. Eventually, Wisner digs into specific examples of Monsanto’s ghostwriting, proving the ghostwriting through internal email correspondence.

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Wisner presses an extremely uncomfortable, fast-talking Farmer on the “final editing” point. She claims that he was only talking about correcting any errant page numbers, not about the conclusions of the publication. COME ON.

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Wisner continues to pin Farmer down with more incriminating evidence of ghostwriting, including a 2015 email that reveals Heydens discussing using a similar approach to discrediting the IARC classification by “ghostwrite[ing] the exposure tox and genotox sections.” He continues “An option would be to add [scientists] Greim and Kier or Kirkland to have their names on the publication, but we would be keeping the cost down by us doing the writing and they would just edit and sign their names, so to speak.” Finally, Heydens writes: “Recall, that is how we handled Williams, Kroes, and Munro 2000.”

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I look at the jury, and can tell that they more than understood the gist of the remarkably successful corruption that has kept a carcinogen for sale en masse on the shelves of Home Depot. Right next to sweet Easter Bunny displays and rich arrays of colorful flowers.

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ADMISSIONS

Jennifer Moore (JM) reads a list of Monsanto’s admissions to the jury. OK, so this list is so bad for Monsanto that I think the Plaintiff could end their arguments now and still win significant damages. She went so quickly that I hope I have the wording correctly. Will eventually update when I can see the transcript.

JM: Admit that Monsanto has never studied the association between glyphosate formulations and NHL.

Monsanto: Admitted

JM: Admit that Monsanto has not conducted a long-term animal carcinogenicity study since 1991.

Monsanto: Monsanto admits that it has not identified any 12 month or longer toxicity studies that it has conducted since 1991.

JM: Admit that Monsanto is not precluded by any law, regulation or ordinance from conducting a long-term animal carcinogenicity study on glyphosate formulation.

Monsanto: Admitted

JM: Admit that Monsanto has never conducted a long-term animal carcinogenicity study on any surfactant used in a glyphosate formulated product.

Monsanto: Monsanto admits that it has never conducted a 12 month or longer term animal carcinogenicity study on any surfactants used in glyphosate based products. To the extent a long-term carcinogenicity study is intended to apply to rodents of 4 weeks of age, Monsanto denies the request.

Seneff: “Hooray for Vietnam! They're banning glyphosate! They already banned Paraquat in 2017. Vietnam is going to become a safe haven for those trying to stay healthy! Might this be a tipping point for glyphosate?”

Vietnam has announced that it has banned the import of all glyphosate-based herbicides with immediate effect following the latest cancer trial verdict from San Francisco, in a move which has shaken Bayer’s Asian market for its top-selling product.

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In 2017 the Vietnamese government also officially announced a ban on Syngenta’s paraquat, a highly hazardous pesticide (HHP) and Dow Chemicals’ 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), an organic compound found in Agent Orange, which was heavily used during the Vietnam War.

USDA Has Given Non-Regulated Status to More than 20 Gene-Edited Crops – New Report

The plant species listed include pennycress, green foxtail, potatoes, camelina, alfalfa, maize (corn), rice, soybeans, tobacco, tomatoes and wheat and one mushroom. The exact intended traits of the plants cannot always be precisely determined. In many of the registered documents no information is provided because the precise description of the targeted genes is categorized as confidential business information (CBI). It is also sometimes difficult to find information on the progress of developments – it does however appear that applications are filed at early stage. Generally, it has to be assumed that by no means will all of the plants registered come on to the market. On the other hand, some companies have announced to investors that some specific plants will be on the market very soon.

The case will now proceed to the second trial phase to determine damages and whether Monsanto failed to warn Hardeman about the product’s alleged cancer risks. The parties will present opening arguments in the next phase of the trial on Wednesday.

New Study Shows Major Molecular Differences between GMO and Non-GMO Corn - 2016

Overall, the findings of this study disprove industry and regulatory agency claims that NK603 is ‘substantially equivalent’ to its non-GMO counterpart and suggest that a more thorough evaluation of the safety of consuming products derived from this GMO corn on a long term basis should be undertaken.

A San Francisco jury Wednesday found the firm, which is owned by Bayer, had been "negligent by not using reasonable care" to warn of the risks of its product, ordering it to pay Edwin Hardeman $75 million in punitive damages, a little over $5 million in compensation and $200,000 for medical expenses.

It was the second stinging legal verdict for Monsanto in recent months after it lost a case to a California school groundskeeper suffering from terminal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and was ordered to pay out tens of millions of dollars.

The jury also found that Roundup's design was defective and that the product lacked sufficient warnings of potential risk.

Six years ago, in July of 2013, when I learned about the fact that glyphosate was not only sprayed on GMOs, but on many grains and food crops as a drying agent, I knew we must not only raise awareness about the risks of GMOs, but glyphosate as well. I was told not to go after Roundup. That is was "too big." That it was the most widely used herbicide in the world and we would never stop the chemical companies. Many saw me and our mom's group as irrational and perhaps even naive. But we were determined and we initiated glyphosate testing in water, urine, and our breast milk. The results were shocking and the public realized that their families were being contaminated by this dangerous weedkiller. Many other groups began to test for glyphosate in foods, beer, snacks, sanitary products (all positive) and eventually the media picked up the results. New scientific studies were conducted and lawyers began to take interest.

Today for the second time over the past eight months a jury has unanimously found Monsanto guilty of hiding the fact that they knew their glyphosate-based herbicide product, Roundup, could cause cancer. This time, the plaintiff, Edwin Hardeman, in a federal trial, was awarded $80 million dollars. $5 million was in compensatory and $75 million in punitive damages. In the first trial, Johnson v. Monsanto the jury awarded the plaintiff $289 million dollars and the judge reduces the award to $79 million. At this rate, with thousands of other cases filed against Monsanto, Bayer may be facing payments of $880 billion dollars. Bayer purchased Monsanto for $63 billion just last year.

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There are more than 760 other federal cases against Monsanto pending in the same court before U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria and 11,200 across the United States.

The results of this trial are a huge win, not only for the plaintiff and their family, but for mothers, fathers, and the public everywhere, who have been struggling to protect their families from Monsanto's chemicals. It is a win against resignation and doubt. An example of what can happen when people stand up for their health and face the largest corporations in the world, and say, "No more."

Zen Honeycutt, Moms Across America

Seneff: “Glyphosate Girl has put together another informative and entertaining blog post on the closing arguments in the ongoing second trial for glyphosate & non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Well done!”

PHASE 2, DAY 4 – THE FINAL ACT by Glyphosate Girl

“Just think about all they knew, yet they still conducted a pattern and practice of deceit. When targeting the amount, in view of Monsanto’s final position, what amount is necessary to punish Monsanto and discourage future wrongful conduct? All I can tell you is that this company, after all this time, still comes to this courtroom and says there is no evidence across the board. They didn’t take it off the shelf or tell anyone it causes cancer. They just kept selling it.”

“Nothing else – IARC, studies – NOTHING has stopped this company because the only thing that they care about is profit.”

She continues, missing absolutely no beat.

“It’s your power and job to say NO MORE. It stops today, the lying, ghostwriting, manipulation. Test your product, put a warning on it. Send that message loud and clear.”

That detail and others about the internal workings of Monsanto public relations operations have come to light in a Jan. 22 video-taped deposition of Monsanto executive Sam Murphey. Murphey’s job at Monsanto included directing global media relations and “advocacy efforts in support of major litigation, policy matters, and reputational threats” involving the company’s glyphosate-based herbicide business. And one of the biggest threats came from those cancer scientists. Murphey now works for Bayer after the German company purchased Monsanto last summer.

U.S. District judge Vince Chhabria did not allow Murphey’s disclosure of the anti-IARC budget to be introduced into evidence in the Hardeman V. Monsanto trial, which went to the jury for deliberation on Tuesday. Jurors in that San Francisco case already determined that Monsanto’s glyphosate-based Roundup caused Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but now are weighing damages.

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He was asked about a host of actions undertaken to minimize or discredit IARC’s work that were laid out in that and other internal Monsanto communications. Several pages of the deposition are completely redacted, per court order, so it is not possible to see all of what was said by Murphey in his deposition. But here are a few examples of what was discussed:

* Amplifying pro-glyphosate/Roundup messaging through “third-party channels.” One example of using an outside party to parrot Monsanto talking points was an article that appeared on the Forbes contributor platform that appeared to be written by Henry Miller, who at the time was a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Internal Monsanto documents show the piece criticizing IARC was actually drafted by Monsanto and sent to Miller with a request for him to publish the materials.

* Other Op-Ed maneuvers. Just prior to the IARC classification, Monsanto executive Dan Goldstein discussed five “potential draft Op Eds he said he had written for “medical toxicologists to work from” that included “paragraphs on criticism of IARC.” Goldstein was emailing the draft opinion articles out to doctors and scientists with the hope that they would adopt the drafts as their own and have them published, the records show. Monsanto was available to “coordinate Op Ed versions” as needed, Murphey said in his deposition.

* “Let Nothing Go” strategy. According to Murphey, the initiative involved “carefully monitoring media coverage” with a focus on the European Union…

Convincing a Reuters reporter to write a story undermining the validity of the IARC classification was another example of Murphey’s work....

Adopted just over a year ago, Portland’s pesticide ordinance bans synthetic pesticides use on lawns, gardens, landscaped areas, patios, sidewalks, driveways, parks and playing fields. Only organic treatments can be used to beat back weeds and insects such as grubs.

“It’s very exciting that Portland has become a leader in the worldwide movement to minimize synthetic pesticides and adopt organic land care techniques,” said Avery Kamila, a co-founder of Portland Protectors, which advocated for the ban. “The challenge now becomes educating property owners, lawn care companies and retailers about organic land care.”

The Pesticide-Free Towns movement is gathering pace across the UK as public concern about the use of glyphosate and other pesticides in our parks, playgrounds and streets continues to grow.

Not long after the recent news from the London Borough of Croydon, which has ended the use of pesticides in all its public parks and green spaces, we have news from three major UK cities that are switching to pesticide-free: Bristol, Derry and Trafford, joining the ranks of Hammersmith & Fulham, Lewes, Wadebridge, Glastonbury and others.

Can there be a lawsuit against Monsanto Bayer for the glyphosate found in vaccines, since we can’t sue pharma?

Pesticides Tied to Autism Risk in Kids

While the researchers stressed that it's premature to say that pesticide exposure actually causes autism, they pointed out that theirs is not the first investigation to sound alarm bells on the dangers that pesticides might pose to brain development.

As a professor who studies FDA and health law at Saint Louis University, I have been working with the Center for Health Law Studies to monitor changes in FDA regulations and policies. Most recently I've been tracking progress on the FDA's regulation of genetically modified food and think I can explain what consumers can expect from the agency after Gottlieb departs.

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As with plants, the FDA considers genetically engineered animals safe for human consumption. The agency reviews these types of products as new animal drug applications.

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Consumers should therefore count on increasing numbers of genetically modified plants and animals entering our food supply. Absent a change in scientific consensus, FDA will smooth the pathway for companies to bring these products to market.

...Shoppers can’t yet buy the oil, a product of soybean plants that have been edited to produce fewer saturated fats and zero trans fats, but Calyxt’s CEO Jim Blome says people are already eating it. The company’s first client—a restaurant with multiple locations in the Midwest—has begun using the oil to fry, make sauces, and dress salads, as the Associated Press reported last week…

Gene-silencing GMO dsRNA insecticides can be taken up by soil microbes

Lead author of the new study, Kimberly Parker, assistant professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St Louis, commented, "Now that we have identified the major processes controlling pesticide degradation in soils, we will next investigate in detail the variables that control these processes to enable accurate ecological risk assessment of double-strand RNA pesticides. This will allow us to understand whether or not these new pesticides pose a risk to ecosystems."

"EPA is under duress because they have twin legal threats: Registrants who claim they have fulfilled all the obligations under the law to market these new formulations and environmental groups that desire to halt the use," he said. "The latter have and are suing EPA, the former are likely to act if they feel they are not being treated fairly under the law."

AAPCO will soon issue a letter to EPA detailing state regulator concerns, and is working to clarify when and if the agency will conduct an official public comment period on any proposed changes, Kachadoorian said.

For now, all 2019 state 24(c) restrictions for dicamba still stand. But 2020 could be different, Thostenson noted.

"EPA is putting everyone on notice for 2020," he said. "I suspect this will be a very messy process moving forward."

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this week ordered a moratorium on Monstano’s Roundup weed killer, citing a need for more research into its health effects.

More than 50 cities and counties have banned the chemical, according to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Environmental Working Group, which has long spoken out against the use of glyphosate.

"Kicking Bayer-Monsanto and its cancer-causing weedkiller off LA County property was absolutely the right call," Environmental Working Group President Ken Cook said in a statement. "We know glyphosate causes cancer in people and shouldn't be sprayed anywhere – period.

Its shares were down 1.3 percent at 55.59 euros at 1023 GMT. That added to last week’s 9.6 percent plunge after the jury concluded part-way into the trial that there was a causal link between the weedkiller and Hardeman’s disease.

"As a nation that had suffered the heavy consequences of war, including Agent Orange, Vietnam demands that the companies that had provided the U.S. military with defoliants during the war must have the responsibility to help and assist in overcoming the damage caused by Agent Orange to Vietnam's people and environment," Hang said.

1) Did Mr. Hardeman prove by a preponderance of the evidence his claim that Roundup’s design was defective? YES

2) Did Hardeman prove by a preponderance of the evidence his claim that Roundup lacked sufficient warnings of the risk of NHL? YES

3) Did Mr. Hardeman prove by a preponderance of the evidence his claim that Monsanto was negligent by not using reasonable care to warn about Roundup’s NHL risk? YES

4) What are Mr. Hardeman’s compensatory damages?

(Pic, over $5 million dollars)

5) Did Mr. Hardeman prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is entitled to punitive damages? YES

6) If you answered “yes” to the previous question, what amount do you award Mr. Hardeman in punitive damages?

(Pic, $75 million dollars)

Mary Hardeman chokes up with emotion, and Hardeman lovingly puts his arm around her. They sit between attorneys Wagstaff and Moore, who now all huddle a bit with relief, emotion, and joy.

Chhabria polls the jury, and the verdict is unanimous.

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Chhabria tells the still expressionless jury that they have now completed their service. He lifts the restrictions on reading about the trial in the media, and instructs them to let the court know if anybody is harassing them post-trial. This comment is most likely in response to Monsanto’s aggressive attempts to contact the Johnson jury post-trial.

Chhabria tells the attorneys that he would like to schedule a conference call to discuss case management steps on cases going forward. At some point, individual trials that repeatedly award the Plaintiff will be unsustainable.

Court is adjourned. The Hardemans, attorneys, and GG in the galley are tearfully elated!! There is laugher in this courtroom, the kind that celebrates the final acknowledgment of the truth, against seemingly all odds.

Bayer attorneys don’t look surprised in the least, and in fact have pleasant expressions. I mean, given the crappy evidence they were given to argue their case, they still did an excellent job on behalf of their client. I wonder when Bayer will realize that there is not going to be a legal team that is strong enough to argue that Monsanto hasn’t lied, deceived, and killed the public.

Which conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables in the U.S. are most contaminated with pesticides? That's the question that the Environmental Working Group answers every year with its "Dirty Dozen" list of produce with the highest concentration of pesticides after being washed or peeled.

According to the American Cancer Society, it takes anywhere from 10 to 15 years for an abnormal cell in the lining of the colon to develop into cancer. This means that the first abnormal cell growth that resulted in cancer occurred during childhood. Therefore, it is essential that we look at potential culprits and exposures occurring in childhood.

There are two possible contributors that temporally coincide not only with the spike in young adult colorectal cancers but also with the horrifying increase in childhood cancers. The first is the vaccine schedule’s inclusion of more viral vaccines since the late 1980s, and the known fact that viral vaccines are prone to various forms of contamination. Second, over the same time period, young people’s exposure to glyphosate has exploded, wreaking havoc with their gut bacteria—and intestinal imbalances have a well-documented association with colorectal cancer. In this article, I discuss the vaccine contamination issue; in Part II, I will consider glyphosate and the colorectal cancer crisis.

The secret ingredients in our food may be a lead driver of our obesity, infertility, cancer, digestive problems, autism, brain fog, skin conditions, gluten sensitivity, allergies, fatigue, anxiety, and many other conditions. Meet more than a dozen people whose turned around serious health conditions after adopting a diet that avoids genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and food sprayed with toxic herbicides like Roundup. Learn from leading physicians who say that these are not coincidences. They see illness and recovery like this every day in their practice. And listen to the scientists who explain why.https://secretingredientsmovie.com/

The Vaccine Safety Project Trailer - CHD - RFK, Jr., 8 minutes: “Hi I'm Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and I'm the Chairman of Children's Health Defense and I made this video primer because in a dozen states across America today state legislatures and governors are considering passing vaccine mandates and the facts in this video are facts that every political leader who is trying to decide whether to vote for or against those mandates ought to understand.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K8-PJ0h...2bT4aiO-emEH8vM

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The sheep study pharma doesn’t want you to know about…

RFK, Jr.: "[Even the editors of the leading medical and scientific journals admit that Pharmaceutical companies have taken control of the medical publication industry so completely that most peer reviewed articles about pharmaceutical products are the product of manipulation and fraud. In 2003, Dr Richard Horton, the editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, the world’s most prestigious medical journal, acknowledged that peer reviewed journals have "devolved into information laundering operations for the pharmaceutical industry.“ Science, he added, "has taken a turn toward darkness.“ The BMJ (British Medical Journal) editor Dr Peter Doshi concurred, adding that data cited in many articles, "is insufficient to the point of being misleading.“

Former New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) editor, Marcia Angel observed that “It is no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published or to rely on the judgement of trusted physicians...I take no pleasure in this conclusion which I reached reluctantly over my two decades as editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.“ Medical journals are today utterly dependent on pharmaceutical industry advertising which can account for up to 99% of revenues. Journal editors routinely accept kickbacks from Pharma. This power has given Pharma the capacity to plant fraudulent studies about vaccine safety and to kill or force retraction of peer reviewed studies that raise questions about vaccine safety and efficacy. The latest casualty in Pharma’s war against truth is an alarming 2019 study showing grotesque behavioral abnormalities in sheep injected with aluminum adjuvants similar to those found in Merck's Gardasil and Hepatitis B vaccines. Please read the accompanying article:]"

Anatomy of a science study censorship

Elsevier’s “withdrawal” of a small veterinary study breaks all the rules of scientific publishing. The biggest name in scientific literature has produced fake medical journals for Merck’s advertisers before, so yanking a study that doesn’t pass the vaccine industry’s sniff test would be nothing. Celeste McGovern looks at a case study of how Pharma is killing science.

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It’s not often that veterinary research is so controversial that it falls into the jaws of censorship zealots. That is exactly what happened recently, however, when editors at a science journal suddenly turned on a small Spanish sheep study which they had already peer-reviewed and published and stamped it: “WITHDRAWN” — the equivalent of a scarlet letter “A” in the science publishing world. This was not about shoddy science or ethical breaches; an editor tried to soothe the outraged veterinary professor at the head of the research. But the focus was “delicate” and “controversial” and someone — some anonymous letter-writer – had wanted the study removed, and the journal acquiesced.

“Dear Dr. Luján,

“I wanted to step in here to say that your manuscript is not being retracted – which implies wrongdoing and could damage your professional reputation,” Anne-Marie Pordon, publisher of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences titles for Elsevier journals interjected in a heated e-mail exchange between the lead researcher and various editors. “We are withdrawing the paper, which does not imply misconduct in any way. There will be simply a statement that says “This paper has been withdrawn at the request of the _____” (Authors or Editors in the blank.)” Pick your poison. You remove it, or we remove it.

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Luján’s team published a paper in 2013 describing the mystery illness that they now called “Ovine ASIA” and the post mortem findings of 64 affected sheep from the Zaragoza region of Spain. The wasted corpses of the animals had markedly thickened nerves that were easily visible, protruding on their abdomens and backs and down their legs. Dissection revealed that they had meningoencephalitis-like disease, their brains were inflamed and there was evidence of “severe neuron necrosis.” Special techniques revealed aluminum in their nerve tissue.

More crucially, the researchers were able to induce the disease in a small number of sheep by giving them repeated aluminum-containing vaccinations. These vaccinated sheep lost on average 8.5% of their body fat compared to controls, they showed nervous behaviour changes – depressed, lethargic behaviour alternating with skittishness – they had light fluid around their hearts, and aluminum was detected in their nervous tissue at the late study stage. The veterinarians concluded: “A huge research effort is needed in this field to help understand this process, something that will be of great benefit for both human and animals.”

A study like should have sent shock waves through public health agencies worldwide and triggered a storm of research on the aluminum additive given in ever-increasing doses in animal — and childhood — vaccines. A year later, however, Luján was presenting the findings to researchers at the 2014 Autoimmune Congress in Nice, France. “We are supposed to balance the benefits of vaccines against the adverse events,” he concluded in a somewhat frustrated tone of urgency. “What is sold is [the message] that vaccines have only beneficial effects, and the rest is forgotten or ignored, or nobody wants to hear about it.” He had no idea how prescient those words were.

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One study, published in Veterinary Pathology, describes how 84 lambs were divided into three treatment groups of 28 animals each: the first got 19 aluminum-containing vaccines injections over 15 months, the second, got shots of the aluminum adjuvant ingredient alone, and the third, a control group, received saline. Post mortem studies revealed that all of the vaccinated sheep and 92.3% of the lambs who got adjuvant-only injections, but none of the control animals, developed “granulomas” – cyst-like nodules of white blood cells loaded with the neurotoxic metal aluminum. These granulomas were at the injection site and in nearby lymph nodes – evidence that aluminum used in vaccines is not inert or excreted rapidly from the body as public health officials have maintained since they began using it in vaccines in the 1920s. It is swallowed up by macrophages and transported to lymph nodes. Other studies have shown that from the lymph nodes, aluminum slowly translocates to distant sites around the body and accumulates in the brain. The vaccinated sheep had more of these granulomas than the aluminum-only group.

It was this study that some “concerned reader” with apparent connections to Elsevier – wanted out of the journal. In all his correspondences, Pharmacological Research’s editor-in-chief Clementi refused to identify who wrote it. This is bizarre departure from publishing protocol. The most obvious reason someone would want anonymity is to hide a conflict of interest. If they are a lackey of the aluminum-adjuvanted vaccine industry, for example, their letter would be on par with a letter from the tobacco industry criticizing research on smoking and cancer. Rubbish.

At one point, Luján inquired if the writer wasn’t David Hawkes himself, the small-fry virologist from Australia whose paper was cited by Biganzoli. Hawkes is a self-described “passionate advocate of vaccination”; he administrates an Australian group whose mission is to “relegate anti-vaccination campaigners to irrelevance.” He also works for a company whose stated mission is to promote and expand uptake of the HPV vaccine in Australia. The HPV vaccine has the highest load of aluminum adjuvants of any vaccine on the market. VCS, whose research is financed by Merck, would hardly want word getting out on aluminum vaccines creating granulomas and weird behaviour in sheep just when their government-supported product to test HPV vaccinated women is taking off.

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Ironically, on this Elsevier paper, Hawkes didn’t disclose his own conflicts of interest as a vaccine advocacy group administrator or as an employee of a company that promotes an aluminum-loaded vaccine – an ethical breach in scientific publishing if ever there was one.

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There appears to be a problem admitting there is a problem, however. Luján’s research documents the dangers to animals of a toxin that is given in increasing quantities to children. Neurotoxic aluminum is used in numerous human vaccines – against HPV, hepatitis, pneumococcal disease, meningitis and many more in the pike. The trials of these vaccines use aluminum adjuvant or other vaccines containing aluminum as ‘placebos’, rendering them useless for detecting a problem. Vaccinated versus unvaccinated studies are not done. Aluminum vaccines have never been tested for their combined effects in children. Long-term studies are scant – and they are published by scientists who work for the vaccine industry in the journals we know have had a financial relationship with the vaccine industry. A big problem in sheep should signal, at the very least, concern about a potential problem in humans.

“There are dogmas,” Luján says. The biggest dogma in the 21st century is that vaccines are totally safe. That nothing can go wrong, ever. “That’s why we are being targeted. They want to send a message: don’t get into this business. Work on something else. They just want the thing to disappear.”

German News About HPV Vaccine Injuries & Lack of Transparency of Side Effects

What even doctors don’t know is that in internal EMA documents which Westpol obtained, experts doubted the safety of the vaccine as far back as 2013.

The document reads, “Researchers were divided over whether or not the diagnosis of POTS was triggered by the vaccine. (…) it required investigation.”

The agency did not find the need to inform doctors or the public. To the contrary. Independent researchers are outraged that the concerns are no longer part of the official EMA report on the vaccine.

A few days ago, the Forschernetzwerk Cochrane wrote a blistering letter which reads in part, “The official EMA-Report is deceptive. It tries to convey the impression that concerns over the safety of the vaccine are groundless.”

Nina Katzemich from the organization Lobbycontrol has been watching the EMA for a while. She tells us that the pharma industry finances the EMA up to 85%. The controlee pays the controller.

When Ms. Clobes followed up with the Medical Examiner’s Office in subsequent weeks to confirm that necessary tests were being performed to definitively confirm or rule out vaccine injury, including tests to measure critical proteins, enzymes, serum levels of adjuvants, and markers for inflammation, she was told that “it’s not medically necessary, there is no medical reasoning, and it’s not medically approved.” She was informed that vaccines are not a “medically accepted” cause of death and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, defined as the unexplained death of an otherwise healthy infant) would appear on Evee’s autopsy report as the determined cause of death.https://healthchoicemn.org/2019/03/25/no...sL28RD_vpffsbWc

You should be FIGHTING LIKE HELL for the safety of our children from even the most remote possibility that vaccines aren’t as safe as they could be or aren’t as safe as we are being told. Instead of fighting for truth and safety, you’re fighting like rats for your piece of cheese.

I have ZERO RESPECT for vaccine profiteers that are so financially biased, confirmation biased, indoctrinated, and willfully ignorant of the evidence that clearly shows vaccines cause injury, disease and REGRESSIVE AUTISM, that they aggressively lobby lawmakers to make vaccines mandatory, and deny parents the essential knowledge about the risks of toxic ingredients injected into their babies.

Bought by big pharma, the caretakers of children’s health have become the perpetrators of harm rather than the protectors. They profit as our precious, perfect children are harmed and killed by vaccines filled with cheap preservatives, neurotoxic adjuvants, and human cellular material derived from aborted fetal cell lines. They are complicit accomplices in the murder-by-vaccine crimes that have made American infants THE MOST VACCINATED and THE MOST LIKELY TO DIE in the first year of life.

America’s infant mortality rate, the highest rate in ALL developed nations, is a national tragedy. The epidemic of autism, autoimmune diseases, asthma, allergies, ADHD, and pediatric cancers is far worse. The evidence is everywhere. Unbelievably, the epidemic of autism is rising exponentially. Today, ONE in 48 children in America suffer autism. At the present rate of increase, by 2032 ONE in TWO children AND 80% OF BOYS could be autistic.

We can’t afford to sacrifice our children and the future of our nation to the ignorance and greed of pediatricians and their big pharmaceutical vaccine manufacturer masters demanding parents submit our children to an intolerably dangerous, untested, and unnecessary vaccine schedule of 72+ injections…and rising. There are over 200 vaccines in the pipeline.

Every pediatrician, family practitioner, or vaccine profiteer that isn’t rising up against the corruption of the science of vaccines perpetrated by the CDC is betraying their oath to “first, do no harm.” They are on the wrong side of history. Too many have given up objectivity and reason and have simply become sales representatives for the vaccine manufacturers that have so easily bought and conditioned them to believe their lies. The blood of every vaccine injured or killed child is on the hands of every pediatrician that parroted lies like “vaccines do not cause autism” and “the science is settled.” The science isn’t settled, it’s corrupt.

The vaccine industry will soon face the backlash as doctors, scientists, and parents across America become aware of your crimes, rise up to oppose your lies, and hold you accountable for the vaccine injury holocaust you’ve caused. The fraudulent deceit is coming to and end. We won’t allow it to continue. For me, uncovering the many layers of fraud and corruption that have allowed vaccines to harm so many children, is analogous to walking into an exam room in which a child is being abused by a doctor. I’m not about to look the other way and allow the abuse to continue. I would call the police, however, in my analogy the police are the CDC, and they are participating and enabling the abuse. Regardless, I won’t ignore the abuse and allow it to continue. I’m going to stop the abusers from harming the child, and I won’t be gentle about it. That’s how I see the travesty of the corruption of vaccines that is harming the children of America today. It’s obvious and I’m angry about my how so many of medical colleagues refuse to open the door, expose the abuse, and stop it.

In closing, I beseech my colleagues to open your eyes, minds, and the evidence that for too long you’ve negligently denied. Confront the reality that you’ve been duped, controlled, and indoctrinated. Free yourselves from the indoctrination. Stand with me. Demand scientific transparency, integrity, and reform of the vaccine industry. Join me in this fight to protect children and get yourselves on the right side of history. Together we must STOP the abuse.” Jim Meehan, MD

To the Mother of Immunocompromised Child Demanding Parents Vaccinate Their Children to Protect Hers

I'm so sorry that your child is immunocompromised. I can only imagine how hard that must be. I pray for healing and a miraculous recovery for your child.

What I will not do is sacrifice my children’s health or life for yours. When you understand vaccines better you will understand why your expectations or ill informed.

I am well educated on the science, deficiencies, and risks associated with vaccines. I am afraid you have been terribly mislead about the benefits of vaccinating others to protect your immunocompromised child. It is critically important that you understand that immunocompromised children are IN FAR MORE danger from VACCINATED children, especially those recently vaccinated by one of the live virus vaccines, such as chicken-pox, measles, mumps, and rubella.

Unvaccinated children cannot spread a disease they do not have.

Vaccinated children, on the other hand, can and do spread the disease for which they were recently vaccinated. Live virus vaccines, like chicken-pox, shingles, measles, mumps, and rubella, shed and can cause infection in even vaccinated children. We are now finding that this occurs far more commonly than we believed possible.

Furthermore, the recently vaccinated are more susceptible to becoming infected, and thus transmitting to others, other environmental pathogens (for which there is no vaccine) they may encounter in the weeks after vaccination.

I believe the parents of immunocompromised children need to be better educated and less indoctrinated. Vaccinating the public does almost nothing to protect your child. When vaccines aren't putting your child at risk from live virus shedding, they also simply aren't working well enough or long enough to offer any protection to the herd. Vaccine induced herd immunity is a myth. Vaccines have not, can not, and will never create herd immunity. Vaccine lack two key principles that prevent them from providing herd immunity: effectiveness and duration. Natural infection can provide herd immunity because it creates effective and long lasting immune response that vaccines cannot.

If you rely on vaccinating the herd to protect your immunocompromised child, you simply don't understand the problems, failures, and misinformation surrounding vaccines today.

The best way to protect an immunocompromised child is to keep them out of the public spaces and away from potential pathogens and those that carry them. Vaccines aside, you must understand that there are thousands of environmental pathogens that could infect and kill your child. If you want to protect your child from the far more numerous diseases for which there is no vaccine, then keep your child home or in an equally safe environment. To pretend that vaccinations and herd immunity will allow an immunocompromised child to attend public schools and playgrounds is a very ineffective and dangerous fantasy. Stop allowing the vaccine industry to mislead and use your misunderstandings to promote their agenda.

Finally, please reconsider the logic and reasonability of expecting or demanding that other parents risk their children's death or injury from vaccines, to protect your immunocompromised child. In other words, you should not expect parents to "set their child on fire, just to keep yours warm."

We will help where we can, but any reasonable parent will draw the line at sacrificing their child’s health for yours. Your child’s health and safety is your responsibility. You will best fulfill that responsibility by educating yourself beyond the misinformation fed to you by the vaccine industry and its stakeholders. For the most part, they are simply lying. Jim Meehan, M.D.

Dr. Roby Mitchell, M.D. (www.drfitt.com) issues a retraction to nurses he originally advised to get the H1N1 flu vaccination. After reading the insert of the vaccine, he retracted his advice. This video exposes what is actually IN the vaccine our government is so eager to inject into our population. For more information, please visit the following websites below:

“People are being used as human guinea pigs.”

At 4:20, pregnant women and fetal harm, they don’t know if it causes harm!!!At 6:49, pediatric subjects under age of 4 “have not been established...contains thimerosol...contains 25 micrograms of mercury...so we’re telling pregnant women stay away from fish...why, because it has mercury...and when you expose people to mercury, they get problems...Bottom line it says this stuff doesn’t work…”

Senator Millett, Representative Kornfield, and members of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee:

My name is Dr. Meryl Nass. I am here today to oppose LD798 and support LD987.

I am a physician in Ellsworth, Maine.I graduated from MIT and the University of Mississippi School of Medicine.In 2010, I was the chair of a commission established by you, the legislature, “to protect the lives and health of members of the Maine National Guard.”I have testified to 6 Congressional committees, primarily on anthrax vaccine and Gulf War Syndrome, and the permanent injuries suffered by service-members who received military vaccines of questionable quality.There is no crisis of infectious diseases caused by lack of vaccinations, here in Maine or in the rest of the United States.The rates of vaccine preventable diseases are approximately the same as always. I have attached the official statistics, so please check me on this!According to the CDC, effective vaccine exemption rates in Maine are not higher than they have been, and they are consistently better than the US averageThe truth, not widely known, is that immunocompromised children are not catching diseases from their unvaccinated classmates, and they are not dying. Look at the numbers.

The diseases that persist and have been in the news remain a challenge, simply because the vaccines have a high failure rate–not because of the unvaccinated.

Pertussis is a problem, because the vaccine works poorly.

66% of Maine cases were fully vaccinated, 83% partially.The TDaP pertussis vaccine is estimated 67% effective the first year after inoculation, but only 9% effective 4 years later. [1]Almost all of us are susceptible to pertussis despite vaccination. I have had pertussis twice. I am fully vaccinated.Given the failure rate of the pertussis vaccine, no herd immunity is possible. The bacteria regularly circulate in the community, as they would even with a 100% vaccination rate.Pertussis is not a major problem for the immunocompromised, who are in fact regularly exposed.Similarly, Varicella (the virus that causes chickenpox and shingles) cannot be eradicated even with a 100% vaccination rate.

A full 70% of Maine children who got chickenpox in 2017 had been vaccinated.Adults with shingles spread the virus; a disease-free environment cannot be attained.Fortunately, children do not die from varicella, even highly immunocompromised children, for whom several treatments are available. There is approximately one child death per year, in the entire US, from Varicella.By contrast, influenza–the “flu”–kills about 120 children per year in the US, but again, the problem is that the flu vaccine is weak, and protection wears off quickly.

On average influenza vaccines are 40% effective, according to the CDC. [2]Herd immunity cannot be obtained, because even if you vaccinate everyone, the majority will not be immune.In the past ten years in Maine, 2 children have died from influenza.There has been so much talk about measles, but there has been only one case of measles in Maine in 20 years, from a visitor who did not spread it to anyone.

The numbers speak for themselves. Maine children are already very well protected from those diseases for which we have good protection. Most cases of ‘vaccine preventable’ diseases in Maine are the result of vaccine failures, not the result of unvaccinated children.

But hold on; what’s really going on here? Is all this pandemonium in the media really justified? Or are we dealing with a carefully orchestrated propaganda campaign put on by the pharmaceutical industry to mandate vaccines for the masses? Let’s crunch some numbers and get to the bottom of this story.

Just how deadly is the measles in the United States?

Despite all the fear-mongering going on in the media of late, there have been less than a dozen deaths from the measles in the past 18 years in the United States&#8202;—&#8202;that’s less than 1 death per year, on average, from the measles.[2] Meanwhile, an estimated 250,000 people die each year in the United States due to medical error, and yet we hear almost nothing of this in the news.[3] So, this begs the question: Why are we freaking out about the recent measles outbreaks? And why the push for state legislation to mandate vaccinations?

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Does this really make sense to you? Because if it does, Big Pharma has some vaccines to sell you. In fact, they have about 70 doses of vaccines to recommend to your child.[11] Even better, they want to make you an offer that you literally cannot refuse. If HB 3063 passes into law, your child will not be allowed to go to a public or private school in Oregon if they are missing even a single required vaccine.

Imagine a liability-free, pharmaceutical product mandated by the government, and maybe then you can understand why pharmaceutical propaganda is infecting our news and media like the worst measles epidemic the world has ever seen.

WHO Stakeholders Meet To Establish A “Different Approach” For Post-2020 Vaccine Strategy

The stakeholders at the meeting included “representatives from academia, global immunization and broader health partnerships, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), donor agencies, Ministries of Health, industry, private sector, research institutes, and multilateral organizations,” according to the release.

Japanese officials were also concerned about the MMR vaccine causing additional cases of mumps, citing numerous studies in The Lancet. [5]

Mumps and hepatitis B vaccines are not part of the national immunization program in Japan. [6]

What Many Parents Don’t Know About the MMR Vaccine

The list of adverse reactions to the MMR vaccine, straight from Merck’s vaccine package inserts, is long and alarming. A shortened version of the vaccine damage associated with the MMR vaccine includes vomiting, diarrhea, anaphylaxis, ear pain, nerve deafness, diabetes, arthritis, myalgia, encephalitis, febrile seizures, pneumonia, and death. [7, 8]

A search of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database shows the following statistics from the United States: over 75,000 adverse events have been reported from any combination of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, including, most notably:

78 deaths85 cases of deafness48 cases of decreased eye contact92 cases of developmental delay855 reported cases of autism116 cases of intellectual disability401 reports of speech disorders276 reports of loss of consciousness143 cases of encephalitis74 cases of meningitis111 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome692 cases of gait disturbance (not being able to walk normally)748 cases of hypokinesia (partial or complete loss of muscle movement)653 reports of hypotonia (poor muscle tone)4874 reports of seizures, including febrile convulsions and tonic clonic seizures1576 cases of cellulitis (a potentially serious skin infection)And finally, in some cases, the vaccine has caused the very diseases it is supposed to prevent, with the following data reported to VAERS:

147 cases of measles384 cases of mumps29 cases of rubella [9]

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The flu vaccine has also been the subject of controversy in Japan, after 100 deaths occurred from the vaccine by the end of 2009. Japan’s health ministry has been criticized for for its cautious stance against vaccines, but so far, government officials have wisely defended their position, citing public safety as the paramount concern.

Finally, the Japanese government has also taken a protective stance against vaccines on behalf of its young girls, suspending the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine in 2013 after numerous cases of serious adverse events were reported, with one report citing as many as 1,968 adverse events, 358 of which were classified as serious.

I can't speak for all "anti-vaxxers" who choose not to vaccinate, but I can share a bit of our story. I was once pro-vaccine. 100% for them. It wasn't until after my child suffered an adverse event that I changed my outlook on them. What I was told couldn't happen to my son happened: he was injured by a vaccine. After that discovery, I started to finally read about vaccines instead of taking what our providers were saying as gospel truth. Believe me, I did not want to walk away from them or from what I'd been told my whole life, that vaccines were only safe and only effective. But the more I read, the more I learned. I learned that all vaccines come with risk, that they were not studied as the CDC says they've been, and that for some people like my son, they can do more harm than good. Side effects and adverse events were our reality - not better health or protection from diseases (yes, we've tested this and know that the vaccines did not work). Our doctors could see my son decline post-vaccination and could read what the tests said, but refused to help and only pushed for us to get more shots. I said no more. My son could obviously not handle them, and I was not about to continue to follow the vaccine schedule that they and govt presented. Our docs couldn't give me a guarantee that vaccines would work just as federal agencies that oversee and promote vaccines can't. Today, my son still deals with the negative result of the vaccines he received, and not minute issues either. Seizures, loss of speech, GI problems, gross motor delays, fine motor delays, ataxia, and other medical issues he didn't have prior to vaccination are an everyday part of life. I'll add one more thing since you mentioned it - it isn't just about autism that concerns some parents. It's side effects like intractable seizures, loss of acquired skills, infertility, anaphylaxis...and these days, it's also the trampling of parental rights like having the choice to say no thank you to a liability-free pharmaceutical product that comes with risk that are waking people up about vaccines. And if you really would rather an autistic child over a dead one, you have so much more to learn. Being "anti-vax" was not a choice I ever intended to make. I was forced into that role. Now that I know what I do though, I only wish I'd made that decision a little bit earlier. I wish you the best.

Anti-vaxxer wins libel case in Japan in blow for scientistCourt rules that critic of HPV vaccine did not fabricate his research

In 2016, Dr Ikeda appeared on television and claimed a link between the vaccine and the neurological symptoms. He later took Dr Muranaka to court after she wrote an article criticising his research. In the same year, Dr Muranaka was awarded the John Maddox prize for promoting evidence-based science in the face of adversity.

The libel case turned on the use of the word “fabricated” in Dr Muranaka’s allegation that Dr Ikeda “fabricated” an experiment on a mouse. The court found that was not true; Dr Ikeda had indeed conducted the experiment.

Speaking to the House Healthcare and Wellness Committee in Washington State. Dr Bark spoke against the proposed law that would eliminate personal belief exemptions to vaccinations for children to attend school.

The narrative that iron lungs went out with the apparent taming of polio as a result of the polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk, MD in the early-1950s is a dishonest one. As Suzanne Humphries, MD has pointed out, we still have plenty of iron lungs around, only that we now have modern versions of them called “ventilators.”9

Parents today think that the Salk vaccine eliminated any need for ventilators, because the pictures of all these children on iron lungs are no longer paraded in front of people in order to create fear. Besides which, today’s “iron lungs” don’t look like a prototype submarine. They are barely recognizable as today’s “ventilators.”9

One of the pictures to which Dr. Humphries refers is a famous one taken in an auditorium at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, CA in 1953. The black and white photograph shows four rows of iron lung machines lined up side by side—a total of about 30 machines. Each machine has an adult or child in it, and there are about 10 doctors and nurses posing next to roughly every three or four machines.6 10 11

The impression one gets by looking at the photo is that that must have been what it looked like in hospitals throughout the U.S. at the time. Not true. The scene for the shot was staged for a polio information film produced for the March of Dimes campaign.10 11

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So, no, iron lungs are no longer as prevalent as they once were. But that has nothing to do with polio or the polio vaccine. It has to do with technological advancement. The modern-day equivalent of the iron lung, the ventilator, is in greater demand than ever before, at the same time that the American people are growing increasingly ill and disabled.

Merck settles Vioxx lawsuits for $950 million for hiding data that Vioxx doubles the risk of heart attacks and strokes. This drug killed over 60,000 people.http://www.nytimes.com/.../merck-agrees-to-pay-950…

Glaxosmithkline pays $3 million for fraud.https://www.justice.gov/.../glaxosmithkline-plead-guilty…

Pfizer agrees to pay $2.3 billion to settle civil and criminal allegations that it had illegally marketed its painkiller Bextra, which has been withdrawn.“The whole culture of Pfizer is driven by sales, and if you didn’t sell drugs illegally, you were not seen as a team player,” said Mr. Kopchinski, former Pfizer sales rephttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/business/03health.html

Wyeth Agrees to Pay $490.9 Million for Marketing the Prescription Drug Rapamune for Unapproved Useshttps://www.justice.gov/.../wyeth-pharmaceuticals-agrees…

Sanofi Pasteur Agrees to Pay $19.8 Million to Resolve Drug Overcharges to the Department of Veterans Affairshttps://www.justice.gov/.../sanofi-pasteur-agrees-pay-198…

Novartis pays $72.5 million to resolve charges of off-label marketing of the cystic fibrosis drug TOBI.https://www.justice.gov/.../novartis-vaccines-diagnostics…

Meehan: “Aluminum, in any form is toxic. It's more toxic when it is injected into human tissues.”

"Accordingly, it is recommended that the use of aluminium salts in immunisations should be discontinued and that adults should take steps to minimise their exposure to environmental aluminium."https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28752219

“Some of the aluminum salts used in vaccines are more toxic than others.

Merck's proprietary "superpowered" immune stimulating aluminum adjuvant, Amorphous Aluminum Hydroxyphosphate Sulfate (AAHS), the one used in Gardasil, is the most dangerous aluminum adjuvant of them all.”

The putative role of environmental aluminium in the development of chronic neuropathology in adults and children. How strong is the evidence and what could be the mechanisms involved? 2017

Seneff: “A third trial on glyphosate & NHL is underway! This time it's a husband and a wife both of whom are coping with NHL. They used Roundup for many years to control weeds in their property. Johnson Juror # 4 does a great job of subbing for GG who is away.”

BY AOJ – AKA JOHNSON JUROR #4

The Pilliods, we learn, sprayed lots Roundup around several properties. They are non-professional household Roundup users like Edwin Hardeman, and unlike Lee Johnson, who sprayed it at his job. The Pilliods read the instructions on the label of RU, and sprayed and sprayed for decades, with no protective clothing or equipment. Alva Pilliod even continued spraying after his NHL diagnosis, and did not stop spraying until he saw an ad on TV from a law firm representing Roundup users who had NHL. Shit.

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In the rodent studies we have NEW information. The story goes like this: In 1971, one Paul Wright leaves Monsanto to go work for Industrial BioTest Labs (IBT), which a short time later conducts a rodent study for Monsanto that shows no tumors. This result leads to EPA approval of RU. Two years later, IBT and Wright are exposed as frauds for falsifying the tumor data, or some such shenanigans. Monsanto took no action in the wake of the scandal.

Mighty Mouse and the Magic Tumor. This one never, ever gets old folks! In case you don’t know the story: In 1983 Knezovich and Hogan find renal tumors in mice leading the EPA to classify RU as Class C oncogen. Monsanto sits down with EPA to tidy up the mess. “Short of new study, or finding tumor in control mouse, how can we get this thing off Cat C?” Enter the Magic Doctor who is hired to review the study—he re-cuts the slides, and finds the Magic Tumor in the World’s Most Famous control Mouse. So, the EPA wants the study repeated and that never, ever, happens.

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Brent now gets into further detail about the Pilliod’s cancers. It is not a pleasant story, but at least they are alive. There was a cost for that, however, as Brent describes how their post cancer treatment lives are much different, all because of weeds they would have been happy to let thrive had they known. He then goes through the differential etiology for Alberta and Alva, listing off the other potential risk factors for each: family history, immunosuppression, certain viruses, smoking, Hashimoto’s disease, and RU exposure. Brent crosses them all off except the RU exposure, of course. He points out that it is highly unlikely that two genetically unrelated people in the same household would get NHL. The common denominator must be their RU exposure.

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Now Tarek introduces a very interesting strategy. He says he is “not going to refute every email that the plaintiffs” are going to show and then implies that causation—did RU cause the Pilliod’s cancer?—is the key to this trial. “This is not a referendum on Monsanto.” Ah, I get it now. This is the new angle! Monsanto counsel has decided to self-bifurcate! They are playing the corporate bad behavior off of the causation, as if the corporate bad behavior is a mere distraction. Not. Very. Clever. But there it is, the new angle.

This new self-bifurcation thing has one very big problem, which is, once the jury gets a good dose of say, Farmer, Heydens, and Reeves, the natural question is, why? If your RU product is so safe, why do you have an FTO department? Why all the discussion of which studies might look bad? Why not conduct that mouse study? Why even discuss ghostwriting? Why fear IARC, or the AHS? Why do your lawyers ask judges for bifurcation?

Make no mistake, this jury will have to sign off on the causation before they get to the punitive phase of deliberations. But this whole thing is a reverse Catch-22 with a full twist. The logic of the defense just implodes no matter which way they spin it.

Seneff: “In my opinion they are missing the boat here. The real problem with these race horses is glyphosate contamination in their feed. Over time, glyphosate is destroying their joints. It's destroying our joints as well, which is why we have so many issues with joint pain - back pain, shoulder pain, hip replacement surgery, knee injury, foot problems, etc., etc. Glyphosate contamination in the collagen is messing up its tensile strength, flexibility and ability to hold water, would be my best guess. Probably also related to the opioid drug abuse epidemic.”

Another horse fatality at Santa Anita; 23 thoroughbreds have died since Dec. 26

Now, Costco has reportedly decided to begin to stop selling the popular weedkiller, which contains glyphosate — an herbicide which the World Health Organization described in 2015 as a probable carcinogen. Moms Across America founder Zen Honeycutt, whose petition calling for Costco to stop selling Roundup has more than 150,000 signatures on Change.org, wrote on her website:

"I called the headquarters, and after two days of messages and calls, I did finally confirm with three people that Costco was not ordering Roundup or any glyphosate-based herbicides for the incoming spring shipments."

Costco has yet to issue an official statement on the petition. However, in conversations with the administrative staff at various stores, Big Think has learned that the product was pulled off the floor this week per corporate orders — meaning, Costco's removal of Roundup applies to "all locations."

Meanwhile, Moms Across America has another petition on Change.org calling on Home Depot and Lowe's to pull the product from their shelves:

"We call on Home Depot and Lowe's today to step up as Costco has to protect us, your customers, and stop selling Roundup (and all glyphosate herbicides) now, due to its carcinogenic effects and lack of labeling," the petition reads. "Everyone deserves to know! These products should not be sold to the public!"

That said, during our annual insurance renewal last month, we were surprised to learn that our insurance company was no longer willing to provide coverage for claims related to glyphosate due to the recent high-profile lawsuit and the many thousands of lawsuits since. We sought coverage from other companies but could not buy adequate coverage for the risk we would be incurring. So we had no choice other than to notify our Harrell's Team and customers that we would no longer offer products containing glyphosate as of March 1, 2019.

Brockovich: “When will it end...From causing cancer in the applicators... to being detected in everything from our Cheerios and bread to our beer and wine... to links to the rapidly increasing toxic algae blooms...It's past time to stop... NOW IT"S TIME FOR ACTION!”

Popular weed killer's alleged link to cancer stirs widespread concern

Two juries have implicated Roundup as the cause of cancer in frequent users, but major public health agencies disagree over whether it is a carcinogen.

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Q: ROUNDUP ISN’T THE ONLY WEED KILLER WITH GLYPHOSATE, RIGHT?Right. Over 750 glyphosate-containing products are sold in the United States, either in solid or liquid form. In addition to Roundup, common ones include Ortho GroundClear, DowDuPont’s Rodeo, Compare-N-Save Concentrate Grass and Weed Killer, RM43 Total Vegetation Control and Ranger Pro Herbicide, also made by Monsanto. If you don’t know whether a weed killer contains glyphosate, read the label. It would be listed under active ingredients.

The company AquaBounty has announced that the Minister of Environment and Climate Change has approved the production of genetically modified (GM or genetically engineered) Atlantic salmon at a site in Prince Edward Island (P.E.I). This will be the first factory in Canada to produce GM salmon, which is the world’s first GM food animal.

“Canada and P.E.I. will now be associated with the controversial and risky production of the world’s first GM fish,” said Sharon Labchuk of Earth Action P.E.I., “But Canadians were never consulted and the product is not even labelled in our grocery stores.”

A new study in mice shows that 2,4-D, a herbicide used on GM crops engineered to tolerate it (notably corn and soybean), disrupts the gut microbiome at doses below regulatory permitted levels. See the abstract below.

The balance of the microbiome is now known to be crucial to health. It affects a large number of disease conditions, from obesity to anxiety to cancer.

The new study shows that regulators need to add effects on the gut microbiome to the portfolio of tests required to assess chemical toxicity. This is currently NOT done.

Studies in rodents are accepted as relevant to human health risks.

In a previous study, Roundup, the main herbicide used with GM crops, and its active ingredient glyphosate were shown to impact the gut microbiome of rats when administered at very low, supposedly safe doses. Another study showed that glyphosate disrupted the gut microbiome of honeybees and increased the mortality of bees exposed to a pathogen.

Abstract: The gut microbiota critically confers various health benefits, whereas environmental chemicals can affect its constitution and functionality thereby increasing disease risk. In the present study, we aim to evaluate the toxic effects of a widely-used herbicide 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) on the gut microbiome and host using an occupationally relevant dose. A mouse model was used combined with metagenomic sequencing and metabolomic profiling to examine the alterations induced by subchronic low-dose 2,4-D exposure in fecal and plasma samples. The metagenomics results revealed a distinct gut microbial community with profound changes in diverse microbial pathways including urea degradation, amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism in 2,4-D-treated mice. Moreover, the metabolomics results revealed that the metabolic profiles in treatment group were differentiated from control group in both fecal and plasma samples. Toxic effects on the host of 2,4-D at an occupationally relevant dose were observed indicated by decreased acylcarnitine levels in plasma. These findings indicated that 2,4-D can cause toxicity and substantially impact the gut microbiome in mice at occupationally relevant doses, inferring that the relationship between environmental contaminants and microbiota is largely underestimated calling for more comprehensive consideration of the toxicity of occupational exposures.

This clause would prevent cities and counties from enacting ordinances that protect native seeds from GMO seeds, and would take away our city, county, and local power to create GE (genetically engineered) Free Zones in New Mexico.

WASHINGTON, DC — This week, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) introduced the Keep Food Safe from Glyphosate Act, new legislation that would overturn the Trump Administration’s decision to ignore glyphosate residues in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) annual pesticide residue monitoring survey. Exposure to glyphosate—the weed killer made popular by Monsanto—was recently found to increase the risk of cancer by 41%.

“American families deserve to know that the food they are eating and feeding to their children is safe,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “But that is not the case because the Trump Administration refuses to test our food for dangerous chemicals like glyphosate—an herbicide linked to increased risk of cancer. That is unconscionable. Congress needs to pass the Keep Food Safe from Glyphosate Act to ensure corporations are not profiting at the expense of Americans’ health.”

Yet, as more advanced genetic engineering tools are being used to create food products, companies are eager to distance themselves from the PR disaster that the last generation of GMOs, such as Monsanto’s Roundup Ready corn, left behind.

These new companies and their technologies — gene editing, gene silencing and synthetic biology — are desperate to shed the GMO moniker or association. They want to be perceived as different, safer and more precise, so as not to raise the same level of fear among consumers.

This attempt to influence the American mindset was on full display last week in an Associated Press story when Calyxt, a Minnesota-based company, talked about how its gene-edited soybean oil is now being used in restaurants in the Midwest. According to Calyxt, it is the first commercial use of a gene-edited food in the U.S.

Not surprisingly, the company is refusing to disclose which restaurants are using this gene-edited soybean oil, leaving diners completely in the dark. And in the USDA’s recently published National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, restaurants are exempt from GMO-labeling rules, and it was not clearly specified whether gene-edited foods would need to be labeled. Therefore, it is very possible that for the foreseeable future, anyone consuming Calyxt’s gene-edited oil will do so unknowingly.

Yet, what may be the most alarming or noteworthy part of this AP story was that “Calyxt says its oil does not qualify as a GMO” and “startups including Calyxt say their crops do not qualify as GMOs because what they’re doing could theoretically be achieved with traditional crossbreeding.”

Consumer watchdog groups have a serious issue with this assertion.

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Despite the fact that the company has apparently acknowledged to the FDA that it has conducted genetic modification, somehow it believes that its gene-edited soybean is not a GMO. How?

By claiming that unlike traditional GMOs, which insert DNA from plant pests, it is simply editing existing genes within crops to speed up a process that otherwise could have happened in nature.

“Consumers think that any genetic material that has been manipulated in a lab and then inserted into a plant would be a GMO, regardless of whether the trait could be achieved via traditional breeding. Additionally, both the USDA and FDA consider this soybean to be engineered. Not only did the USDA refer to it as a ‘GE soybean,’ but the soybean went through the FDA’s voluntary safety consultation, which indicated that the crop met the FDA’s definition of bioengineering/genetic engineering/modern biotechnology. This argument that a genetically-engineered crop is not a GMO because the process could have happened in nature is completely flawed,” said Michael Hansen.

The American consumer should not be fooled and buy into the propaganda that these gene-edited crops are not GMOs. They are.

Latham: “{this article is not new but it is so tremendously important to understand the flaws of chemical risk assessment that I am sharing it again. I took it to a scientific toxicology meeting recently and one of the attendees took the trouble to approach me to say that every word was true.]”

Unsafe at any Dose? Diagnosing Chemical Safety Failures, from DDT to BPA by Jonathan Latham, Ph.D.

But the true scandal of BPA is that such sagas have been repeated many times. Time and again, synthetic chemicals have been banned or withdrawn only to be replaced by others that are equally harmful, and sometimes are worse. Neonicotinoids, which the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) credits with creating a global ecological catastrophe (1), are modern replacements for long-targeted organophosphate pesticides. Organophosphates had previously supplanted DDT and the other organochlorine pesticides from whose effects many bird species are only now recovering.

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The first task of chemical campaigning is to strip away the mythologies which currently surround the science of toxicology and the practice of chemical risk assessment. When we do this we find that chemical regulations don’t work. The chief reason, which is easy to demonstrate, is that the elementary experiments performed by toxicologists are incapable of generating predictions of safety that can usefully be applied to other species, or even to the same species when it exists in other environments or if it eats other diets. Numerous scientific experiments have shown this deficiency, and consequently that the most basic element of chemical risk assessment is scientifically invalid. For this reason, and many others too, the protection chemical risk assessments claim to offer is a pretense. As I will show, risk assessment is not a reality, it is a complex illusion.

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The chemical most frequently used to make BPA-free products is called BPS. As its name implies, BPS is very similar in chemical structure to BPA (see Fig. 1). However, BPS appears to be absorbed by the human body significantly more readily than BPA and is already detectable in 81% of Americans (Liao et al., 2012).

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Thus, when the EU banned the herbicide atrazine, Syngenta replaced it with terbuthylazine. Terbuthylazine is chemically very similar and, according to University of California researcher Tyrone Hayes, it appears to have similar ecological and health effects.

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The Bt pesticides produced inside GMO crops are considered (by farmers and agribusiness) to be safer substitutes for organochlorine, carbamate, and organophosphate insecticides. These chemicals replaced DDT, which was banned in agriculture following Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. DDT was itself the replacement for lead-arsenate. Many other examples of what are sometimes called regrettable substitutions can be found.

Chemical bans (or often manufacturer withdrawals) that precede such substitutions are nevertheless normally celebrated as campaigning victories. But the chemical manufacturers know that substitution is an ordinary part of business. Because weeds and pests become resistant and patents run out, they are usually looking for substitutes irrespective of any environmental campaigning.

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In the same article, Sanjour also proposed that since corporate capture renders them useless, the public would be better off with no regulatory agencies. In a similar vein, former EPA pesticide scientist Evaggelos Vallianatos called his former employer, at book length, the “polluter’s protection agency.” Another EPA whistleblower, David Lewis, this time at EPA’s Office of Water, has shown in court-obtained documents that EPA scientists buried evidence and even covered up deaths so as to formulate regulations that would permit land application of sewage sludge. This sludge was routinely contaminated with pathogens, heavy metals, industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants, and other known hazardous substances. The corruption around sewage sludge regulations extended well beyond the EPA. It encompassed other federal agencies, several universities, the National Academy of Science, and municipalities. David Lewis eventually obtained a legal judgement that the City of Augusta, Ga, had “fudged” the toxicity testing of its own sewage sludge in order to meet EPA guidelines. The city had done so at the request of EPA.

In another recent case, DeSmogBlog obtained, through a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA), internal documents showing how EPA offered access to its fracking study plans:

“[Y]ou guys are part of the team here,” one EPA representative wrote to Chesapeake Energy as they together edited study planning documents in October 2013, “please write things in as you see fit.”

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The book Pandora’s Poison elaborates on the some of the ambitious ideas for eradicating pollution that Greenpeace tried but never in the end adequately road tested. It is time to learn the lessons of the past and move chemical safety campaigning outside of the comfort zone of the chemical industry, which is where it belongs.

The resulting crops are usually called Bt crops. Cry toxins kill insects that eat the GMO crop because the toxin punches a hole in the membranes of the insect gut when it is ingested, causing the insect to immediately stop feeding and eventually die of septicaemia.

Cry toxins are controversial. Although the biotech industry claims they have narrow specificity, and are therefore safe for all organisms except so-called ‘target’ organisms, plenty of researchers disagree. They suspect that Cry toxins may affect many non-target species, even including mammals and humans….

The admission follows an Institute of Medicine study that concluded that “some C-123 reservists stationed in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts had been exposed to Agent Orange residues in the planes and suffered higher risks of health problems as a result,” according to a report from ABC.

“Opening up eligibility for this deserving group of Air Force veterans and reservists is the right thing to do,” said VA Secretary Bob McDonald in a statement.

The toxicity of Agent OrangeAccording to the non-partisan Aspen Institute in Washington D.C., Agent Orange was a herbicide used by the military to defoliate the Vietnamese jungle and expose Vietnam Cong and North Vietnamese troops using the jungle as a cover to move men and material to South Vietnam. Even though its use ended decades ago, the toxic contaminant of Agent Orange, dioxin, did not degrade as readily and is still causing health problems in Vietnam.

“The Red Cross estimates that three million Vietnamese have been affected by dioxin, including at least 150,000 children born with serious birth defects,” said the Institute. “Millions of Americans and Vietnamese are still affected, directly and indirectly, by the wartime U.S. spraying of Agent Orange and other herbicides over southern and central Vietnam.”

Amid the uproar of the courtroom scuffles, a larger issue looms: Monsanto’s push to make use of glyphosate herbicides so pervasive that traces are commonly found in our food and even our bodily fluids, is just one example of how several corporate giants are creating lasting human health and environmental woes around the world. Monsanto and its brethren have targeted farmers in particular as a critical market for their herbicides, fungicides and insecticides, and now many farmers around the world believe they cannot farm without them.

Studies show that along with promoting illness and disease in people, these pesticides pushed by Bayer and Monsanto, DowDuPont and other corporate players, are endangering wildlife, soil health, water quality and the long-term sustainability of food production. Yet regulators have allowed these corporations to combine forces, making them ever more powerful and more able to direct public policies that favor their interests.

The Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren this week called for taking back some of that power. She announced on Wednesday a plan to break up big agribusinesses and work against the type of corporate capture of Washington we have seen in recent years.

It’s a solid step in the right direction. But it cannot undo the suffering of cancer victims, nor easily transform a deeply contaminated landscape to create a healthier future and unleash us from the chains of a pesticide-dependent agricultural system.

And while Bayer may dole out a few billion dollars in damages, who is really being made to pay?

RFK, Jr.: “David Attenborough will attempt to show the world exactly what is happening on April 5, when Netflix launches Our Planet — a new, blockbuster eight-part documentary series that aims not just to present the majesty of the world around us but also raise awareness of what the changing climate is doing to it.”

David Attenborough Isn't Sure We Can Save the Natural World. But at 92, He's Not Giving Up Trying

Attenborough and his frequent collaborators, filmmakers Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey, will attempt to show the world exactly what is happening on April 5, when Netflix launches Our Planet–a new, blockbuster eight-part documentary series that aims not just to present the majesty of the world around us but also raise awareness of what the changing climate is doing to it.

Family farm documentary was part of pesticide lobby's campaign to change how you think.

The marketing proposal, dated May 2, 2018 and featuring the logo of Edelman, recommended a video series almost identical to Real Farm Lives as a way to "broaden public confidence and further increase public acceptance" of pesticides, the chemicals that most commercial farms in Canada use to kill unwanted plants.

The series would use "three Canadian farming families from across Canada" who are portrayed as “the right messengers" to deliver a message to “persuadable” people, the plan said.

The proposal was part of a larger presentation by CropLife Canada, an industry group representing corporations like Bayer, Syngenta, Nufarm, BASF — and Corteva, which tweeted about the Englots using herbicides, a type of pesticide.

The "objective" Edelman proposed was to increase the public's acceptance of "the use of CropLife Canada members’ products."

The proposal also discusses "earned media," a marketing term for the type of press coverage that the Englots and two other families in the video series, the Renwicks and the Ardiels, ended up receiving. For public relations strategists, earned media can be more valuable than advertising, since it delivers a message through the news that can be shared and spread for a client, without having to pay for it.

We don’t know the full extent of the health implications of this use of oil and gas wastewater on crops because oil companies do not disclose all of the chemicals they use in their operations. EWG said that oil companies withheld the identity of 40% of the chemicals because they were “trade secrets.” For a third of the chemicals we do know are used by oil companies, acute toxicity information is unknown.

The chemicals we know are in oil wastewater and for which we do have toxicity information should be enough to ban the use of oil wastewater on crops. High levels of benzene have been found in this water, along with heavy metals like lead, petroleum chemicals, and radioactive elements like radium. The CDC lists a number of health effects from long-term exposure to benzene, including anemia, excessive bleeding, low birth weight, bone marrow damage, and cancer. Fracking wastewater contains thousands of times more radioactive radium than allowed in drinking water.

Nor will buying organic protect you. Organic regulations do not explicitly prohibit the use of irrigation water on organic crops. It is an alarming oversight, since oil and gas wastewater obviously contains chemicals that are otherwise forbidden for use on organic crops.

Consider that California grows an astounding percentage of America’s total produce: 99% of artichokes, 99% of walnuts, 97% of kiwis, 97% of plums, 95% of celery, 95% of garlic, 90% of broccoli, 89% of cauliflower, 71% of spinach, and 69% of carrots. Put another way, California produces nearly half of all US-grown fruits, nuts, and vegetables.

That said, during our annual insurance renewal last month, we were surprised to learn that our insurance company was no longer willing to provide coverage for claims related to glyphosate due to the recent high-profile lawsuit and the many thousands of lawsuits since. We sought coverage from other companies but could not buy adequate coverage for the risk we would be incurring. So we had no choice other than to notify our Harrell's Team and customers that we would no longer offer products containing glyphosate as of March 1, 2019.

Triton Algae Innovations - a San Diego-based firm building a production platform for food proteins from algae - says it can produce heme (the red, meaty-tasting star ingredient in the Impossible Burger) without using genetic engineering, generating significant interest from plant-based meat brands seeking a Non GMO positioning.

A lawsuit could play a role in any expanded use, too. More than 1,000 farmers are suing Bayer for damage done to their crops because of dicamba drift. If the suit fails, herbicide and seed companies could say that farmers and their insurance companies are on the hook for any future damage dicamba causes.

“If the insurance companies are held responsible for the off-target movement, then they would no longer be willing to ensure applicators,” Hartzler said. “And I don’t think most applicators would be willing to take the risk if they were going to be held responsible.”

The EPA is taking public comment on Bayer’s petition for corn use through April 17.

Retired U.S. Government Scientist Testifies Today in Roundup Cancer Trial

Retired U.S. government scientist Christopher Portier will kick off live testimony today in the third Roundup cancer lawsuit to go to trial. He is expected to tell jurors in Pilliod v. Monsanto how regulators have repeatedly missed key signs that Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicides cause cancer.

Portier’s testimony is expected to run all day today and possibly into Wednesday. The current case involves a married couple – Alva and Alberta Pilliod – who both developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after many years of use of Roundup.

Portier is one of the plaintiffs’ star expert witnesses. He was an “invited specialist” to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) when the unit of the World Health Organization met in March of 2015 in Lyon, France to review years of published and peer-reviewed scientific studies about glyphosate. At that meeting, IARC classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen, though Portier had no vote in the outcome.

Portier resides now most of the time in a remote village in Switzerland, but before his retirement, he led the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to that role, Portier spent 32 years with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, where he served as associate director, and director of the Environmental Toxicology Program, which has since merged into the institute’s National Toxicology Program.

Monsanto’s attorneys and chemical industry allies have criticized Portier and sought to discredit his opinion that glyphosate herbicides cause cancer. They cite part-time work he has done in retirement for the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, and his role as an expert witness for plaintiffs’ attorneys in the Roundup litigation, though the litigation only began after the IARC classification.

Following Portier’s testimony, plaintiffs’ lawyers expect to put Charles “Bill” Jameson on the stand as a second expert witness. Jameson is a chemist and toxicologist specializing in carcinogenesis. He has worked as a senior chemist for the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He also has consulted for the World Health Organization and served as a member of the IARC working group.

The trial is expected to run into mid-May. Lawyers for the Pilliods have filed a list of exhibits they plan to present at trial that runs more than 280 pages. Monsanto’s list of exhibits runs more than 130 pages.

April 1, 2019

Long Lists of Evidence in Newest Roundup Cancer Trial

Monday is another day of rest for opposing sides in the latest Roundup cancer trial – Pilliod V. Monsanto. The plaintiffs in the case, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, are husband and wife and both have non-Hodgkin lymphoma they allege is due to their exposure to Roundup.

Opening statements in the case were delivered to jurors Thursday and the trial is set to resume Tuesday with testimony from plaintiffs’ expert witness Chris Porter a former U.S. government scientist. Portier was a key witness in the first two Roundup cancer trials, both which concluded with large damage awards against Monsanto.

Portier has argued that regulators have incorrectly analyzed glyphosate studies on rodents, and that a correct analysis of the total weight of scientific evidence shows that glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides such as Monsanto’s Roundup can cause cancer.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs have filed a list of exhibits– evidence they plan to present at trial. The list runs more than 280 pages.

Monsanto’s list of exhibits runs more than 130 pages.

During this ‘dark’ day as the lawyers call a day with no court, take a look at my piece in The Guardian that ran over the weekend:

“Amid the uproar of the courtroom scuffles, a larger issue looms: Monsanto’s push to make use of glyphosate herbicides so pervasive that traces are commonly found in our food and even our bodily fluids, is just one example of how several corporate giants are creating lasting human health and environmental woes around the world. Monsanto and its brethren have targeted farmers in particular as a critical market for their herbicides, fungicides and insecticides, and now many farmers around the world believe they cannot farm without them.

Studies show that along with promoting illness and disease in people, these pesticides pushed by Bayer and Monsanto, DowDuPont and other corporate players, are endangering wildlife, soil health, water quality and the long-term sustainability of food production. Yet regulators have allowed these corporations to combine forces, making them ever more powerful and more able to direct public policies that favor their interests. While Bayer may dole out a few billion dollars in damages, who is really being made to pay? We all are.”

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria is asking Monsanto and its new owner Bayer AG to begin mediation with lawyers for cancer victims who have sued Monsanto alleging its Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Chhabria’s move comes in the wake of an $80 million jury award to plaintiffs Edwin Hardeman last month in his courtroom. And last summer plaintiff Dewayne “Lee” Johnson was awarded $289 million by a jury in state court, though the judge in that case lowered the damages to $78 million.

Chhabria had warned that he might make such a move, but had indicated that he would likely wait until three trials had been concluded before pushing for a settlement. The third Roundup cancer trial has only just gotten underway, however.

As he pushes the parties to settle, Chabbria has vacated the May 20 trial date that was set for the next federal trial. That case, Stevick v. Monsanto was filed in April 2016 by Elaine Stevick, who has non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and her husband Christopher Stevick. The couple attended portions of the Hardeman trial.

Roughly 11,000 plaintiffs have sued Monsanto, which was purchased by Bayer last summer. More than 800 of those lawsuits are being overseen by Chhabria as federal multidistrict litigation. Several thousand more are pending in state courts around the country.

Observers have speculated that a global settlement might run between $3 billion and $5 billion.

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April 3, 2019U.S. Scientist Still on Stand in Roundup Cancer Trial(Transcript from today’s proceedings)

After a full day of testimony on Tuesday, retired U.S. government scientist Christopher Portier was back to the stand Wednesday to lay out for jurors the scientific research that has convinced him that Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicides cause cancer, and the failures of European and American regulatory systems to properly account for the scientific evidence.

RFK, Jr.: “Pharmaceutical companies like Bayer now own our media. Their advertising dollars allow them to dictate content and censor criticism of their products. Facebook, Google and Pinterest are censoring all scientific debate that raises questions about Pharma’s $50 billion va$$ine industry and its corrupt entanglements with regulators and is removing testimonies of mothers and photos of their va$$ine injured children. There is now free speech in this country only for owners of internet platforms and media empires and their advertisers. Time to take back our country, people! Jump the Chute! Join the truth army.”

Newsweek Gets Ad Money from Bayer, Prints Op-Eds That Help Bayer

Newsweek failed to disclose the chemical industry connections of two opinion writers who argued today in an op-ed that glyphosate can’t be regulated. The commentary by Henry I. Miller and Stuart Smyth, both of whom have ties to Monsanto that were not disclosed in the piece, appeared soon after a federal jury handed cancer victim Edwin Hardeman an $80 million verdict against Monsanto (now Bayer), and said the company’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide was a “substantial factor” in causing Hardeman’s cancer.

...

Here’s what Newsweek did not disclose to its readers about the authors:

Henry Miller’s Monsanto ties:

In 2017, the New York Times reported that Dr. Miller published an article in Forbes defending glyphosate that had been ghostwritten by Monsanto. Forbes severed ties with Miller and deleted all his articles.

A 2015 Monsanto PR plan identified Dr. Miller as a key ally. The company’s plan to discredit a scientific panel that raised cancer concerns about glyphosate listed as its first action item: “Engage Henry Miller.”

Miller has a long history of partnering with – and pitching his PR services to – corporations that need help convincing the public their products aren’t dangerous and don’t need to be regulated.

Stuart Smyth’s Monsanto ties:

Dr. Smyth also collaborates with the agrichemical industry on PR projects, according to emails obtained by U.S. Right to Know and published in the UCSF Chemical Industry Documents Archive.Emails from 2016 indicate that Dr. Smyth receives “program support” from Monsanto. The email from Monsanto Canada’s Public and Industry Affairs Director asks Dr. Smyth to send the “invoice for this year’s contribution.”

Newsweek has a duty to inform its readers about the chemical industry connections of writers and sources who argue in Newsweek for the safety and necessity of pesticides linked to cancer.

Air pollution caused by corn production increases mortality rate in US

New paper presents how researchers have estimated for the first time the health damages caused by corn production - April 1, 2019

The paper, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Sustainability, presents how researchers have estimated for the first time the health damages caused by corn production using detailed information on pollution emissions, pollution transport by wind, and human exposure to increased air pollution levels. Corn is a key agricultural crop used for animal feed, ethanol biofuel, and human consumption.

The study also shows how the damage to human health of producing a bushel of corn differs from region to region and how, in some areas, the health damages of corn production are greater than its market price.

In this conversation with Chris Hedges, environmental activist and author, Vandana Shiva, talks about Monsanto/Bayer AG and other big AG players interests in India and her fight to protect life forms, seed varieties and farmers.

"If we are to survive as a species it means radically changing how we grow food"

"I’ve said it before, I’ll keep saying it: ban roundup!" Gabbard said in a tweet on Friday. "It’s long past time we stopped relying on corrupt corporations with a profit incentive to fund science telling us their chemicals are 'safe.' Victims shouldn’t have to go to trial to get the truth."

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In her February tweet, Gabbard said: "Monsanto proves they'll do anything to pad their pockets, including manufacturing 'scientific studies' to influence the EPA while destroying small farmers. They unleashed the scourge of Roundup on us and should be held accountable for the consequences."

Janine Jackson interviewed Carey Gillam about Hardeman v. Monsanto for the March 29, 2019, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.

But the second leg of this, or the second part of it, is there’s also a great deal of evidence of Monsanto’s manipulation of the scientific record. So when Monsanto says it has all of this science on its side, well, we know now from internal Monsanto documents, that a lot of that science they point to is science that they paid for, that they wrote, that they ghostwrote, that they manipulated—that they essentially had a hand in creating a safety narrative that really was not true.

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CG: Well, a couple of different elements to that. So No. 1 is that most of the regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, only require a large body of evidence about the active ingredients. So in the case of Monsanto’s products, the active ingredient is glyphosate. It is not the only ingredient, but it is the active ingredient. So their studies, that they were required to present to the EPA, was limited to glyphosate.

Now, the products on the store shelves are not glyphosate only; they include surfactants. And scientists around the world who have studied the actual formulated products have said that the way that these surfactants interact with glyphosate make it much more toxic than glyphosate by itself.

And Monsanto admits it has never done any long-term studies about these formulated products, and the EPA admits that it’s never required any long-term studies. So the actual products that we’re being exposed to, and that are being used out there, and that these plaintiffs [have] used, have never had any long-term regulatory requirements for carcinogenesis studies. And that is shocking to a lot of people. But that is the fact. So that’s one element.

The other element is, again, the regulators rely primarily on data and information that’s been given to them by the companies that sell the chemicals. And we know, from analysis that’s been done, that studies that are done by companies that profit from those products generally find those products to be safe. Whereas independent analysis and independent research is more likely to find risk, if risk is there. We have to take that into account when they point to the EPA as the all-knowing being that we should rely on.

The secret ingredients in our food may be a lead driver of our obesity, infertility, cancer, digestive problems, autism, brain fog, skin conditions, gluten sensitivity, allergies, fatigue, anxiety, and many other conditions. Meet more than a dozen people whose turned around serious health conditions after adopting a diet that avoids genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and food sprayed with toxic herbicides like Roundup. Learn from leading physicians who say that these are not coincidences. They see illness and recovery like this every day in their practice. And listen to the scientists who explain why.https://secretingredientsmovie.com/

Do you remember the video I posted of Pediatrician Dr. Richard Pan (turned Senator) at a Senate hearing for SB277 in California ? The video showed committee members asking Pan questions. Pan turned around and whispered back and forth to two lobbyist who were sitting directly behind him and then he answered the questions. The bill was passed and it took away religious and philosophical exemptions in CA. Pan is now busy trying to take away a doctors right to give a medical exemption. (As I keep reminding you, there is Glyphosate in vaccines.)

If you do not understand how bills get written in our country, here is an excellent article from USA Today giving you an education. Please read this.

You elected them to write new laws. They’re letting corporations do it instead.

An investigation by USA TODAY, The Arizona Republic and the Center for Public Integrity

Each year, state lawmakers across the U.S. introduce thousands of bills dreamed up and written by corporations, industry groups and think tanks.

Disguised as the work of lawmakers, these so-called “model” bills get copied in one state Capitol after another, quietly advancing the agenda of the people who write them.

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The investigation reveals that fill-in-the-blank bills have in some states supplanted the traditional approach of writing legislation from scratch. They have become so intertwined with the lawmaking process that the nation’s top sponsor of copycat legislation, a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, claimed to have signed on to 72 such bills without knowing or questioning their origin.

For lawmakers, copying model legislation is an easy way to get fully formed bills to put their names on, while building relationships with lobbyists and other potential campaign donors.

For special interests seeking to stay under the radar, model legislation also offers distinct advantages. Copycat bills don’t appear on expense reports, or campaign finance forms. They don’t require someone to register as a lobbyist or sign in at committee hearings. But once injected into the lawmaking process, they can go viral, spreading state to state, executing an agenda to the letter.

USA TODAY’s investigation found:

•Models are drafted with deceptive titles and descriptions to disguise their true intent...•Special interests sometimes work to create the illusion of expert endorsements, public consensus or grassroots support. One man testified as an expert in 13 states to support a bill that makes it more difficult to sue for asbestos exposure. In several states, lawmakers weren’t told that he was a member of the organization that wrote the model legislation on behalf of the asbestos industry, the American Legislative Exchange Council.

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“This is how all laws are written,” she said. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a law where a legislator sits in a chamber until a light bulb goes off with a new policy.”

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Sonnenberg, the lawmaker who introduced it in Colorado, said he didn’t write the bill and relied on “my experts” to explain it during a February 2017 hearing.&#8239;

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Graves said special interests have "so-called experts who aren't neutral. They go around the country and testify about those bills as if they're good for that state or even as if they're products of that state."

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USA TODAY found more than 4,000 bills benefiting industry were introduced nationwide during the eight years it&#8239;reviewed. More than 80 of those bills limit the public's ability to sue corporations, including limiting class-action lawsuits, a plaintiff's ability to offer expert testimony, and cap punitive damages for corporate wrongdoing.

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Many of the bills USA TODAY found were copied from models written by special interests were couched in unremarkable or technical language that obscured their impact.&#8239;

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Murt’s situation highlights how critical bill titles and summaries are – especially when it comes to copycat legislation – because lawmakers, even sponsors, often don’t read bills.

Noted activist and Swedish student Greta Thunberg, whose "strikes for climate" have inspired similar actions across the globe, nodded to the Swiss and German actions, writing Friday on Twitter: "The people are rising. The world is at a tipping point. Now we have to continue pushing hard! Everyone is needed. This is just the beginning."

This week a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), released the long-awaited Draft Toxicological Profile for Glyphosate. And, it supports and strengthens the 2015 cancer assessment of another health agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

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Now, almost exactly two years later, the ATSDR’s Draft Toxicological Profile for Glyphosate has risen from the near-dead and is out for public comment. At an impressive 257 pages, the fully-referenced report comprehensively covers both the cancer and non-cancer health effects linked to glyphosate exposure, the latter including adverse effects on reproduction and child development, and organ toxicity. Bravo, ATSDR!

The court in Lyon rejected the company’s appeal on Tuesday but did not rule on how much Monsanto might have to pay, which will be determined in a separate ruling. It ordered the company to pay €50,000 immediately for François’s legal fees.

In its ruling, the court found that Monsanto should have clearly indicated on Lasso’s labelling and instructions for use “a notice on the specific dangers of using the product in vats and reservoirs”.

“The plaintiff’s assumed technical knowledge does not excuse the lack of information on the product and its harmful effects – a farmer is not a chemist,” it added.

Summary: An international team has unveiled a new CRISPR-based tool that acts more like a shredder than the usual scissor-like action of CRISPR-Cas9. The new approach, based on Type I CRISPR-Cas3, is able to wipe out long stretches of DNA in human cells with programmable targeting, and has been shown to work in human cells for the first time.

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U-M and Cornell have filed for a joint patent on this new tool. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (GM128637, GM118174, GM102543 and GM117268) and by Zhang's funding from the Medical School's Biological Sciences Scholars Program.

Why both major political parties have failed to curb dangerous pesticides

This led to the creation of “conditional” registration: After 1978, companies could register new products without submitting all of the required safety and testing data. More than 16,000 pesticides have been registered for use in the United States; more than two-thirds were initially registered conditionally. Some, according to a Government Accountability Office report, have been conditionally registered for more than 20 years. One legal analysis declared this a long-standing “loophole” in federal pesticide law, one that allowed companies to circumvent the legal requirement to prove a product safe for health and the environment before selling it to the public.

One of those conditionally registered compounds was glyphosate, first brought to market in the 1970s…

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Conditional registration is not the only reason glyphosate has remained on the market. EPA scientists classified it as a carcinogen back in 1985 but reversed course after six years of correspondence with Monsanto executives. In the decades that followed, the company commissioned its own science from its preferred scientists and asked federal regulators to base decisions on that science. In one instance, the EPA ceded to industry requests to remove a certain scientist from a glyphosate safety review panel.

Calling his service on the jury a "life-changing experience", Howard described the background of the jurors: "There were a lot of intelligent people, several with doctoral degrees, a molecular biologist, a public accountant, an environmental engineer, a technology journalist, and someone doing research on a law firm. I own a construction company in San Francisco and I'm an artist. At university I studied environmental analysis."

Asked whether the trial was an emotional experience, Howard said the testimony of Johnson and his wife was "very moving": "You see them and think, 'This is a family that is going through hell.' The health problems are compounded by legal difficulties. That was the only really emotional moment. Monsanto has accused Johnson's lawyers of stirring up emotions in the courtroom. But that was not the case. Our verdict was very rational."

He described the jury's method of working: "We proceeded very methodically, reviewing the process, comparing one statement with another in our records, and considering what they meant... We had 17 questions that we had to answer. When the question of guilt was clarified, we set the economic and non-economic damages. Then it was about the fines, which was the hardest."

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In response to Bayer's assertion that no scientific studies show Roundup is carcinogenic, Howard said, "I have seen many scientific studies that included statistically relevant data showing that the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup increases the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in humans. But it was not up to the jury to find the evidence. We had to see whether or not there was enough evidence that the herbicide was carcinogenic. And in my opinion, there were more than enough. The evidence of Monsanto's corporate misconduct was clear and convincing."

But a new paper (abstract below) reveals that dicamba doesn't only kill and damage the soybean plants that are in the line of fire of drift – it also makes its way into the seeds produced by those plants, resulting in deformed offspring.

Referring to different growth stages of the soybean plants (R1 to R6), the authors conclude, "This research documents that soybean damaged from dicamba drift during the R1 to R6 growth stages can negatively affect offspring and that occurrence of pod malformation after dicamba drift at the R5 growth stage may be indicative of injury to the offspring."

In addition, exposure of the parent plant to dicamba spraying during seed pod formation stages resulted in only 50% germination of seeds.

I am not just referring to the chemical spills from the chemical school there, although they contributed to the problem too. The veterans and their families were exposed to a toxic soup of chemicals from years and years of dumping, improper containment, and spills of dangerous toxic chemicals from Monsanto (think PCB’s, Dioxins, Roundup weed killer, Agent Orange, and genetically modified food) which turned Ft. McClellan and the neighboring town of Anniston into a disease and death causing toxic cesspool. In short, if you were stationed at Ft. McClellan between 1933 and 1999, you were exposed to these chemicals and possibly ionizing radiation if you were at the firing range. The only question is how it will affect you.

How bad is it? In 1966, a study was conducted by a University of Mississippi biologist. He placed 25 Bluegill fish into one of the streams. He reported to Monsanto that the fish became disoriented within 10 seconds and died within 3 ½ minutes. Another of the biologists reported that it was like “dunking the fish in battery acid”. The fish spurted blood and shed their skin as though being placed in boiling water.

Yet another biologist said, “The skin would literally slough off.” Sometime thereafter, a dog drank from the stream and died. For the dog lovers, he wasn’t part of the study – just an incidental occurrence that got reported. Since this was a Monsanto sponsored study, the results were not made public and Monsanto continued business as usual.

Once the EPA became actively involved, Ft. McClellan was closed down in 1999. It was declared a toxic site and was federally mandated to be decontaminated so the cleanup began. In 2009, 60 Minutes called Anniston one of the most toxic places in our country.

A committed voice for sanity in science, Dr. Seneff has authored over two dozen peer-reviewed journal papers over the past few years about the connection between toxic chemicals and micro nutrient deficiencies in health and disease, with a focus on the dangers of Roundup (glyphosate) and the importance of sulfur. For more than three decades, her research interests have been at the intersection of biology and computation: developing a computational model for the human auditory system, understanding human language so as to develop algorithms and systems for human computer interactions, and applying natural language processing (NLP) techniques to gene predictions. Her current work focuses on the relationship between health and nutrition.

Seneff: “A compelling but sad story on French children exposed to glyphosate.”

Children on the Front Line

The medical community is unambiguous: Théo’s malformations are not genetic, but definitely linked to an external factor. “Right from birth, Théo’s doctors pointed a finger at pesticides,” says Sabine, who at the time didn’t make an immediate connection to the weed killer that she used at home to spray the horse paddock. “The wake-up call came later,” she remembers. In August 2008, to be precise. Just as she did every year at the same time, Sabine treated the area with Glyper, a herbicide containing glyphosate. “It suddenly hit me; I remembered what the surgeon had told me about pesticides.” Due to the teratogenic risks of glyphosate [causing malformation of embryos and foetal abnormalities] cited in scientific studies, doctors say the link to Théo’s birth defects is “highly likely”. “I was exposed [to glyphosate] at a crucial moment in my pregnancy – during the first four weeks,” she says. “I didn’t even know I was pregnant, so I didn’t take any particular precautions.”

Even worse, Sabine knowingly chose the product. At the time, this environmentally minded mother-to-be fell for agrochemical giant Monsanto’s ad campaign promoting the merits of its product Roundup, the “first biodegradable weed killer”. Meanwhile, in 2001, the American corporation had already been sued in France for false or misleading advertising. The company, ordered to pay a €15,000 fine, appealed. The Court of Cassation [France’s supreme court of appeal] upheld the penalty two years later. “During all that time, the ad continued to be aired,” says Théo’s mother, who heard about the court case “too late”.

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Today, faced with a number of health scandals involving Bordeaux vineyards, the agricultural council recommends that professionals spraying pesticides wear gloves, an airtight bodysuit, goggles and other protective gear in order to avoid contamination. “We’re not condemning or going after agriculture or the winemaking industry, but rather the excessive use [of these products],” Ruffié says. “We’re simply asking for the application of the law, respecting the boundaries of one’s own plot of land.”

Considering the evidence mounting against Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides, I think the chemical’s days are numbered. As previously discussed in many articles, glyphosate and glyphosate-based weed killer formulations have in recent years been linked to a wide variety of human health consequences, including:

Seneff: “Terrifying story in the NY Times about a fungus named Candida auris that appears to be often fatal for people with compromised immune systems, and that is resistant to multiple antibiotics. The belief is that the overuse of fungicides on crops has allowed this pathogen to get out of hand.”

Seneff: “This is very sad, and I bet humans are to blame for their suffering.”

Dolphins found suffering from Alzheimer's

The discovery is an ominous warning to us all, because it also hints at a potential cause for Alzheimer's: the environmental toxin BMAA.

Each of the dozen or so cases of Alzheimer's identified in dolphins so far has also been associated with BMAA, which is produced by blue-green algal blooms common in dolphin habitats. This neurotoxin is easily caught up in the ocean food web, which the dolphins rely on more directly than we do, but humans also rely on it and may be susceptible to the same concern.

"Dolphins are an excellent sentinel species for toxic exposures in the marine environment," explained co-author Dr. Deborah Mash. "With increasing frequency and duration of cyanobacterial blooms in coastal waters, dolphins might provide early warning of toxic exposures that could impact human health."

Summary: An international team has unveiled a new CRISPR-based tool that acts more like a shredder than the usual scissor-like action of CRISPR-Cas9. The new approach, based on Type I CRISPR-Cas3, is able to wipe out long stretches of DNA in human cells with programmable targeting, and has been shown to work in human cells for the first time.

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U-M and Cornell have filed for a joint patent on this new tool. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (GM128637, GM118174, GM102543 and GM117268) and by Zhang's funding from the Medical School's Biological Sciences Scholars Program.

The secret ingredients in our food may be a lead driver of our obesity, infertility, cancer, digestive problems, autism, brain fog, skin conditions, gluten sensitivity, allergies, fatigue, anxiety, and many other conditions. Meet more than a dozen people whose turned around serious health conditions after adopting a diet that avoids genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and food sprayed with toxic herbicides like Roundup. Learn from leading physicians who say that these are not coincidences. They see illness and recovery like this every day in their practice. And listen to the scientists who explain why.https://secretingredientsmovie.com/

From “Modified:” Have you ever wondered why the Non-GMO Project verifies foods like orange juice (even though there are not currently any GM oranges on the market?) or salt (which is a mineral and as such can't be genetically engineered). It turns out many common foods contain additives manufactured from genetically engineered ingredients. In the case of orange juice: citric acid and vitamin C & D are often added to juice, and usually derived from GM corn. In the case of salt, anti-caking agents such as dextrose are also usually derived from GM corn. Read on at https://www.nongmoproject.org/…/why-the-non-gmo-project-ve…/ to find out some of the other interesting reasons these foods carry the "Non-GMO Verified" label.

Latham: “Learn more about Roundup and the chemical industry. I am a Chapter author in this fun (really!) new book "The Politics of Pesticides" The Editor is Mitchel Cohen and the Forward is by Vandana Shiva. It is available from this website. If you have the time we would REALLY appreciate amazon and Barnes and Noble reviews. Preferably positive! Other authors include Brian Tokar, Sheldon Krimsky, Jay Feldman Stacy Malkan, Martha Herbert and Robyn Falk Esser .”

The Fight Against Monsanto’s Roundup: The Politics of Pesticides – New Book

“This may be one of the most important books you read this year. We are being poisoned and this book is sounding a well-informed alarm.”

However, experts who are closely linked to industry (or are part of anti-regulation pressure groups) have taken control of the EU’s new Science Advice Mechanism (SAM). These experts have contributed to a report commissioned to reevaluate the EU’s authorisation of pesticides. The report, called “EU authorisation processes of Plant Protection Products”, and published in late 2018, recommends dramatically weakening the EU regulatory system. Especially notable is the adoption of many ideas previously proposed by the chemical industry. For example, the EU currently deems the acceptable level of public exposure to mutagenic pesticides (those that damage DNA) to be zero. The new report recommends scrapping this standard of protection.

A 12 minute video from 2012 explaining the Seralini study. A must watch. (Ladies, our mothers and grandmothers didn’t have fibroid tumors growing in their uteruses. Today, it’s epidemic. Take a look at HysterSysters’ website.)

1985: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classified glyphosate as a Class C Carcinogen.

On February 11, 1985 the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate was first considered by an EPA panel, called the Toxicology Branch Ad Hoc Committee. The Committee, in a consensus review dated March 4, 1985, then classified glyphosate as a Class C Carcinogen. A Class C Carcinogen has ”Suggestive evidence of carcinogenic potential” according to the EPA.

1985: Monsanto tried to persuade the U.S. EPA that glyphosate was not a possible human carcinogen

Dr. George Levinskas, who joined Monsanto in 1971 and became Director of Environmental Assessment and Toxicology, was a lead player in the cover up of the carcinogenic potential of the now banned PCBs in the 1970s.

In April 1985 he wrote an internal company letter stating the following: “Senior management at the EPA is reviewing a proposal to classify glyphosate as a class C “possible human carcinogen” because of kidney adenomas in male mice. Dr. Marvin Kuschner will review kidney sections and present his evaluation of them to the EPA in an effort to persuade the agency that the observed tumors are not related to glyphosate.”

The Class C carcinogen classification for glyphosate, which was decided upon in 1985, was changed by the EPA to a Class E category which suggests “evidence of non-carcinogenicity for humans”. Mysteriously this change in glyphosate’s classification occurred during the same period that Monsanto was developing its first Roundup-Ready (glyphosate-resistant) GM Crops.

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2007: Glyphosate usage is more than double that of the next most heavily sprayed pesticide – Atrazine.

RFK, Jr.: “The most important thing to realize about the ATSDR report is how clearly it lays out the vast array of scientific evidence linking both pure #glyphosate (rodent studies) as well as formulated glyphosate-containing products (in human epidemiologic studies) like Roundup as they are sold on the shelf to #cancer.”

Zen Honeycutt: “The red in chart below is arsenic in glyphosate based herbicides. Arsenic became illegal to be used as an herbicide in 1973. In 1974 Roundup came on the market with glyphosate as the "active chemical ingredient"...and the manufacturers hid arsenic in the "inerts" or other undisclosed ingredients.” - From Seralini's talk at #EHS2019

French Professor Giles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen is interviewed by Zen Honeycutt of Moms Across America regarding the new shocking finding of arsenic, a known poison, and heavy metals, also toxic and endocrine disrupting, in glyphosate-based herbicides such as Roundup. How might this be affecting you?

EPA’s current considerations of the risks and benefits of pesticides including herbicides fail to account for the adverse cumulative impacts to human health and biodiversity of multiple herbicides and herbicide combinations. EPA even fails to consider their cumulative risks when they are in the same product and clearly will be applied simultaneously, such as the glyphosate-2,4-D product Enlist Duo that was first approved by EPA in 2014 in response to glyphosate-resistant weeds. (see details including NRDC litigation here).

When Certified Organic Is Not Available, Ask the Right Questions at the Market

Questions detailed in the guide fall under three main categories:

Is it local?How was it grown?How was it raised?Discover the difference between free-range and pastured eggs, the importance of soil health for combating plant diseases, and the differing approaches to animal welfare practices.

The Stakeholders also urged that Nigeria should not sign the Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV 1991) but instead should design its own plant variety protection laws that are suitable to the Nigerian environment.

A DOCUMENTARY SERIES AND GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT REVEALING THE HEALTH IMPACT DUE TO CHEMICAL FARMING AND THE SOLUTION OF REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE.

“The sudden explosion of cancer suggests that we did some massive environmental injury similar to Chernobyl, and you suddenly realize that we’re collecting some 80 - 85 percent of all the glyphosate sprayed in the U.S. into a single water system, and if this is the most prevalent antibiotic in our environment that’s decimating the microbiome of the soils, we had a smoking gun.”

Dr. Zach Bush says he can’t shift the momentum by working with one cancer patient at a time. It’s far too slow and it’s not at the root of the cause. So he looks to “these farmers to realize the salvation of human health.”

The secret ingredients in our food may be a lead driver of our obesity, infertility, cancer, digestive problems, autism, brain fog, skin conditions, gluten sensitivity, allergies, fatigue, anxiety, and many other conditions. Meet more than a dozen people whose turned around serious health conditions after adopting a diet that avoids genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and food sprayed with toxic herbicides like Roundup. Learn from leading physicians who say that these are not coincidences. They see illness and recovery like this every day in their practice. And listen to the scientists who explain why.https://secretingredientsmovie.com/

Update on the third trial for glyphosate & non-Hodgkin's lymphoma by Glyphosate Girl.

RFK, Jr.: “Oakland Superior Court, Pilliod v. #Monsanto: Al and Alberta Pilliod with their lofty (6'7") son, Michael, and trial team Brent Wisner, Michael Baum, myself and Mike Miller. I’ve watched many of the great trial lawyers, but none better than Brent. Judges and juries love him for his integrity, lightening-fast wit, easy humor, infectious laugh and buoyant magnetism. His grasp of the science and the law is encyclopedic. His gift is his capacity to distill complexities into a simple and compelling cascade of moral outrage. His mesmerizing cross-examinations yesterday and this morning of Monsanto’s shady toxicologist, Dr. William Heydens, and it’s amnestic product safety chief, Dr. Michael "I don’t know much about glyphosate" Koch, were at first piercing, and then annihilating. Brent is a wrecking ball with charm. In a moment of reverie, he told me, "I’m 35 years old, and I’m happy to spend the rest of my life trying these cases against Monsanto.” We still have another 11,000 plaintiffs in our pipeline. So that's bad news for #Bayer.”https://www.facebook.com/rfkjr/photos/a.1426921030967975/2292516334408436/?type=3&theater

Update on the third trial for glyphosate & non-Hodgkin's lymphoma by Glyphosate Girl.

Roundup has been available since 1974. The ingredients are glyphosate, water, a surfactant, and very small formulated ingredients, like food coloring and products to keep it from foaming up.

Readers, I’m having an identity crisis after a weekend at an environmental health conference. What if glyphosate isn’t actually the most significant toxin in the Roundup cocktail mix? Have I misplaced the relative importance of my namesake? Roundup celebrity scientist Dr. Seralini thinks so, and recommended “Formula Girl,” which unfortunately makes me sound like I also need a bouncy seat.

It was a veritable Who’s Who of those interested in pesticides, plastics and toxins at the Environmental Health Symposium in Arizona. It made for fabulous, engaging company. After a few drinks, we took guesses as to who might be an AgChem executive undercover, which was unfortunate for the suspicious-looking but innocent man who simply was a member of the steel drum band.

It was my first time at this symposium, and I can’t recommend it enough for those who want to learn the latest, non-ghostwritten science about cleaning up and eliminating everyday toxins from our bodies.

The keynote speaker was Gilles-Eric Seralini, who many of you will recognize as a pre-eminent GMO and Roundup scientist who has been a pain in the rear for Monsanto. What he has discovered in his lab has not been favorable to growing Monsanto product sales.

In his keynote, Seralini spent time celebrating Baum Hedlund and Brent Wisner for their success in winning the Johnson trial, before moving into shocking revelations from his recent research. I won’t drag you through the details, but this much you should takeaway. In 1973, Arsenic was banned for use in the US as a pesticide. In 1974, Roundup was introduced to market with the main ingredient glyphosate, water, surfactants, and “inert” agreements that made the mixture proprietary.

Well, Seralini discovered that those inert ingredients are anything but inert, and in fact include ARSENIC. The discovery has been confirmed but not yet published by another scientist.

HOLD ON.

No one has thought to test this before? So we have a highly toxic surfactant POEA facilitating the penetration of both glyphosate AND Arsenic, all around us, all of the time?

Let me get this straight. In the last few weeks I have heard the following facts presented:

Donna Farmer says that the Roundup formula can’t be tested because it kills the rats by way of the intestine before they can get a good read on carcinogenicity.

In Monsanto’s tests of how Roundup is absorbed via skin exposure, the lab cooked the tested cadaver skin at 140 degrees F, then froze it, making it impenetrable.

Seralini – who by the way released this study December 30, 2017 – found US-banned arsenic in the Roundup formulation making it multitudes more toxic than glyphosate alone.

HOW IS THE EPA – EFSA – ECHA NOT SCREAMING TO STOP APPLYING THIS IMMEDIATELY?

For Investors

I want to point out the date of Seralini’s arsenic study release was well before the close of the Bayer acquisition. You may opt to google Seralini on your own, and will encounter the mega onslaught of a Monsanto-driven PR campaign to discredit his earlier studies. Seralini is also the most mentioned person in the Monsanto Papers.

Where was Bayer in evaluating the “inert ingredients” of Roundup? Did they have their own scientists take a look at it and judge for themselves? Did they get a list of what the proprietary extra ingredients were, and ask whether any were banned for use as a pesticide?

We still don’t know who knew what and when, but if I was a Bayer stockholder, I’d want to find out those answers.

DR. KOCH & THE BILLION DOLLAR QUESTION

Today, we saw a long video deposition of Dr. Michael Koch, the New Technologies in Toxicology Lead at Monsanto/Bayer. He was notably Donna Farmer’s boss for many years, though he makes it clear in the testimony that he did not micromanage her.

Wisner opens a series of many questions in a video depo, which shows both of their faces. Wisner’s tone is well delivered – he keeps a friendliness even while presenting pointedly damning evidence. My guess is that those in the line of Wisner’s fire don’t find it quite so friendly.

Koch states: “Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup,” and admits that there are other things in Roundup as well. All I can think about is the arsenic, but that won’t enter evidence in this trial.

Gobs of incriminating juice squeeze out through Wisner’s questioning, though most of it is not new news for GG. Over the course of well over one hour of testimony, the jury is fully engaged, listening to every single word. Wisner repeatedly asks a question of Koch, and then shows terribly damaging email evidence of schemes of deception orchestrated by Roundup protectors Koch, Heydens, Goldstein and Farmer.

Between Koch’s incredibly intense and shifting eyes, choppy voice tempo, and inability to talk his way out of the corner in which Wisner holds him captive, there are expressions of amusement on the faces of nearly every juror. A few audible chuckles erupt from the Pilliods – can you imagine how wonderful it must feel to see Monsanto executives caught so red handed after they caused them such great illness?

I closely relate to that sentiment.

Much of the deposition prods at Monsanto’s ghostwriting that so clearly took place in structuring an “orchestrated outcry” in advance of the IARC decision. Just so much good meat here that I will link to the transcript once it comes out. There are too many emails to discuss, but one that I found particularly amusing is an email from Monsanto’s regulatory liaison Dan Jenkins to Dr. Heydens and Dr. Koch after hearing that IARC was going to evaluate glyphosate.

Dr. Koch: Regarding IARC, precisely what we didn’t want to hear.

Dr. Heydens: Yes, I’m sitting here pondering this as we speak. The one-billion dollar question is how could it impact. Actually cause them to reopen their cancer review and do their own in-depth epidemiology evaluation? This is getting huge after we hear on our call this morning.

Koch: Yes, I had several of the same thoughts.

Wisner asks Koch about the “billion” dollar question. Koch says that it could have been a $64 million question too, because it’s just hyperbole. What an irony that the estimated $1 billion would be a total bargain in comparison to what Bayer will ultimately owe in Roundup liability.

In the cross examination, we switch to a happy Dr. Koch who says that his is married with children, and has 2 dogs. There is quiet laughter among the jurors, because after all of the terribly damning evidence of lying to keep a known carcinogen a best-seller, (knowing that it could kill the likes of Johnson, Hardeman and the Pilliods), this description of Koch’s every-day man existence seems jarringly farcical.

In fact, I think the trial was just unofficially lost by Bayer. The jurors have put down their notepads and are watching the deposition with amused faces as though it is a TV legal drama that has been made far too obvious to be believed.

EXPERT TESTIMONY OF DR. WILLIAM PEASEFor the first time in three Monsanto trials, Plaintiff attorneys are allowed to present an expert witness on the topic of California’s Prop 65, a measure that requires the state to maintain and update a list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicology.

Dr. Pease has perhaps the most impressive educational pedigree of our expert witnesses: Yale undergraduate degree in English, Rhodes Scholar in English Literature at Oxford, and a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from Berkeley. His demeanor is friendly, normal, calm and educated. His compassionate attitude towards the environment also seems very Berkeley, which is likely quite appealing to this crowd of jurors.

The jury hears the details of the four routes via in which a chemical can get listed on the Prop 65 list. In the case of glyphosate, it is listed due to IARC’s classification. IARC is one of the few sources of chemical evaluation that California deems trustworthy – it does not look to the EPA, EFSA, or other regulatory bodies for guidance. As a Californian Zombie, I am proud that the California EPA knows better than to trust the highly corrupt regulatory agencies that are in the back pocket of chemical companies.

The cross examination of Dr. Pease is entirely uneventful, but that is not surprising because the testimony more of an informational session on Prop 65 than anything controversial. In a cute moment, the Monsanto attorney asks him what he would preferred to be called, “Dr. Pease?” Pease responds: “You can call me Bill!” So then the Paul Simon “Call Me Al” goes through my mind and hasn’t left 10 hours later.

TESTIMONY OF AARON BLAIR

Oh, the poor jury. SO LONG and SO BORING. Eyes are struggling to stay open during this testimony that focuses on Blair’s time leading the IARC working group in its evaluation of glyphosate.

The testimony is not dissimilar to, but considerably longer than, the testimony shown in the Johnson trial. Blair still looks like he really wishes not to be involved in a legal dispute, and would prefer to return to his scientific studies. He also still looks like this:

TESTIMONY OF DR. DANIEL GOLDSTEIN

You may remember Dr. Goldstein from the Johnson trial as the doctor who didn’t call Johnson back after Johnson called twice to see if his cancer could be related to Ranger Pro exposure. Goldstein is Monsanto’s veteran physician who oversaw product safety and human health. It appears from his LinkedIn profile that he has moved on from Monsanto after the Bayer acquisition to pursue a consulting practice and other hobbies. I’m sure he also is extremely rich.

I believe this testimony is a longer version of that which we saw in Johnson, but from the same day. The jury has perked up again, and amusement returns to their faces as the outrageous behavior of Goldstein and crew to cover up the carcinogenicity of Roundup is made quite obvious. Goldstein’s body language betrays his words – he appears fidgety, uncomfortable, and generally excessively guilty throughout Plaintiff questioning.

Highlights:

Goldstein and Donna Farmer regularly play Whack-A-Mole, which translates to smacking down any science that shows unfavorable results towards Monsanto’s products. Goldstein and team celebrated that the abstract of the McDuffie 2001 article did not mention glyphosate exposure as a risk factor in NHL The omission of glyphosate in the abstract meant that searches for glyphosate wouldn’t pick up the positive findings of carcinogenicity in the study.In the cross examination, the Monsanto attorney pulls up the Andreotti study for defense via the AHS. Cause that’s all they’ve got.

EXTRAS

The jury has become friendly with one another, just like those in the Johnson trial! In fact, they are so chummy that Judge Smith sternly reminds them that they are not to discuss ANY of the proceedings with one another until deliberations. I’m sure that is excessively hard given all of the comedy material depicted today.

Before testimonies started, one of the huge overhead lights started strobing. Wisner requested that be turned off before we all became dizzy and ill. So we were only half-lit today.

In the middle of the video testimonies, the jurors are invited to stand up for a few-minute stretching session. It was just so hard to stay awake.

A juror on the end farthest from the gallery has brought a chinese folding fan, which she uses throughout the day.

FINAL NOTESToday could not have been better for the Plaintiff. Bayer attorneys have even more cranky frowns after the disaster of the day. It has to be frustrating to try to structure a decent argument that is so betrayed by these video testimonies of Monsanto’s own senior executives.

“...contaminants, such as formaldehyde…” That’s in vaccines too. But Pharma says vaccines are “safe and effective,” like Monsanto said RoundUp was safe.

Monsanto Roundup Trial Tracker by USRTK, Carey Gillam

The Pilliod case is the third Roundup cancer trial. Juries in the first two cases found for plaintiffs, agreeing with allegations that exposure to Monsanto’s glyphosate-based herbicides cause cancer and that Monsanto has actively worked to hide information about the risks of its products for decades.

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Before jurors adjourned for the week last Thursday they heard testimony about “dermal absorption” issues with Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides and how the common formulations Monsanto sold contained an ingredient referred to as POEA, a chemical with toxicity found to be 40 times stronger than glyphosate alone. Regulators such as the Environmental Protection Agency have not required Monsanto to provide long-term studies on the actual formulations that it sells, including those with POEA, which has been banned in Europe.

Plaintiffs’ expert witness William Sawyer, who is a forensic toxicologist, told jurors that along with POEA Monsanto’s herbicide products carried dangerous contaminants, such as formaldehyde. Overall, Roundup is about 50 times more genotoxic than glyphosate alone, Sawyer testified.

He also told jurors about how the product absorbs easily into human skin, even if someone spraying the herbicide is wearing a long-sleeved shirt or jeans.

“If a person is sweating and those pants are moist, it then gives a kind of a conduit for thematerial sprayed on the clothing to flow through the wet garment onto the wet skin. And it increases the what we call the dermal exposure quantity….” Sawyer testified.

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April 12, 2019

Judge Makes Official Order for Bayer Mediation With Cancer Victims

After a week of behind-the-scenes discussions, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria has issued a formal order of mediation to seek a settlement between Bayer AG and lawyers representing thousands of cancer victims who are suing Monsanto alleging their exposure to the company’s Roundup herbicide caused their illnesses.

Never a dull moment in GG’s health history! I feel like the ultimate human health guinea pig of the grand Monsanto food experiment. Which is why I have complete elation watching the ridiculous scene that took place in the courtroom today.

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After many rounds of objections, the jury starts laughing out loud at the ridiculousness. There are so many sidebars. The jury’s eyes roll and they exchange glances of amusement. It frankly seems like the jury is being Punk’d by Monsanto. With each objection, I’m mentally adding another million dollars to the damages they will ultimately be awarding the Pilliods.

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Benbrook tells an engaging story of what went down in the 1970s IBT laboratory scandal in which the lab produced fraudulent reports with faulty conclusion in pesticide tests – the same fraudulent data upon which Roundup was ultimately approved. Here is excellent coverage of the IBT scandal from the Johnson trial.

IBT was busted in 1976. The EPA eventually checked IBT’s raw data to review glyphosate safety because that data served as the basis upon which glyphosate got EPA approval in 1974. Upon review, the EPA found that the data did not support the conclusion that glyphosate is non-carcinogenic, and the study was declared invalid.

From 1976-1983, Roundup was still on the market, even though there was no valid carcinogenicity study to support its approval.

In 1983, a follow-up glyphosate carcinogenicity study showed cancer in the male mice (the “Magic Tumor” study), and the EPA labeled glyphosate as Class C – Possibly carcinogenic to humans. We know what happened next – Monsanto hired a scientist to “magically” find a tumor in the control group of mice to negate the study. As we know by now, Monsanto never repeated a mouse study ever again, and totally gets away with it.

Most disturbingly, in the EPA’s 2017 Glyphosate Issue Paper: Evaluation of Carcinogenic Potential (Page 85), they STILL CITE THE FRAUDULENT, INVALID 1973 IBT STUDY AS RESEARCH SUPPORT OF NON-CARCINOGENICITY OF GLYPHOSATE!!! Wisner only recently discovered this outrageous fact.

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Benbrook’s recently published paper provides a slam-dunk, can’t-be-debated argument as to why IARC is far more trustworthy in its evaluation of glyphosate than the EPA. How did the US EPA and IARC reach diametrically opposed conclusions on the genotoxicity of glyphosate-based herbicides?

I have read it several times with glee. Today, however, the jury will not be walked through the paper with detail due to showers of objections that leave the jury smiling at Monsanto’s ridiculousness.

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Wisner asks Benbrook to discuss POEA, the toxic surfactant in the US Roundup formulated product that helps to punch holes in my intestine. The same surfactant that prevents Donna Farmer from testing rodents with the formulation because they die via intestinal damage before they can see evidence of carcinogenicity. Yes, that POEA.

Wisner: How do we know they are safe?

OBJECTION

Benbrook discusses that in Europe, POEA is not allowed, so the European Roundup formulation is different. Wisner asks if there is anything stopping Monsanto from making the US version of Roundup a less toxic formulation. Benbrook answers no.

Please invest a few minutes into this deeply moving and profound vision of what our generation faces and our options. Jeffrey nails down the epic choices ahead and envisions our future in a way we have not heard before.

It's now legal for your meat to have trace amounts of fecal matter By Ryan Prior, CNN

The PCRM tested chicken products, and found 48% tested positive fecal contamination. And the petition cited a Consumer Reports study that corroborated their evidence, finding "more than half of the packages of raw ground meat and patties tested positive for fecal bacteria."

The New York City measure would prohibit the application of synthetic pesticides within 75 feet of a natural body of water. And it would encourage city agencies to move to the use of biological pesticides, which are derived from naturally occurring substances rather than synthetic substances.

Washington State University (WSU) researchers have found a variety of diseases and other health problems in the second- and third-generation offspring of rats exposed to glyphosate, the world’s most used weed killer. In the first study of its kind, the researchers saw descendants of exposed rats developing prostate, kidney and ovarian diseases, obesity and birth abnormalities.

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But writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers say they saw “dramatic increases” in several pathologies affecting the second and third generations. The second generation had “significant increases” in testis, ovary and mammary gland diseases, as well as obesity. In third-generation males, the researchers saw a 30 percent increase in prostate disease – three times that of a control population. The third generation of females had a 40 percent increase in kidney disease, or four times that of the controls.

More than one-third of the second-generation mothers had unsuccessful pregnancies, with most of those affected dying. Two out of five males and females in the third generation were obese.

Skinner and his colleagues call this phenomenon “generational toxicology” and they’ve seen it over the years in fungicides, pesticides, jet fuel, the plastics compound bisphenol A, the insect repellent DEET and the herbicide atrazine. At work are epigenetic changes that turn genes on and off, often because of environmental influences.

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“The ability of glyphosate and other environmental toxicants to impact our future generations needs to be considered,” they write, “and is potentially as important as the direct exposure toxicology done today for risk assessment.”

GMO Free NY: “Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii has doubled down on her calls for popular Bayer-Monsanto herbicide Roundup to be banned after a federal jury dealt a major blow to the agrichemical giant, asserting that Roundup played a substantial role in causing a California man's cancer. "I’ve said it before, I’ll keep saying it: Ban Roundup!" Gabbard said in a tweet on Friday. "It’s long past time we stopped relying on corrupt corporations with a profit incentive to fund science telling us their chemicals are 'safe.' Victims shouldn’t have to go to trial to get the truth."

Every presidential candidate should make a pledge to ban Roundup and glyphosate-based herbicides, as well as all other toxic synthetic pesticides, and pledge to put the People's health and well-being over the profits of polluting corporations such as Bayer-Monsanto.”

Seneff: “Another good read on Glyphosate Girl's web site detailing the latest in the third trial on glyphosate and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.”

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY by Glyphosate Girl (AOJ today)

Mike puts up pictures of her wedding and family events and then transitions to asking about how and where Alberta sprayed Roundup around their home in Livermore, as well as at three other properties. He asks how many gallons she sprayed per week at each property, taking notes on a marker board for the jury to see how it adds up to hundreds of gallons. Alberta did this spraying in shorts, a tee shirt and flip flops – no gloves or dust mask.

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Mike asks Alberta if she saw these ads and relied on them as demonstrations of how to safely apply Roundup to weeds. She did. We are shown a 2002 Monsanto document in which the company was apparently weighing whether or not to recommend personal protective equipment (PPE) on the RU label, which it never did, of course.

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Meanwhile a juror is trying to get the clerk’s attention—he has written a question on a slip of paper. Brent asks Alva if the label warns that RU could be carcinogenic. No. Without missing a beat, Brent asks if he ever saw a warning that safety data was based on fraudulent studies. Did I hear that right? This is classic Brent Wisner. And then, as if Monsanto counsel was not already about to blow their head gaskets, Brent brings out a new improved model RU wand sprayer that has a little cup on the end. Is the cup to contain the spray for safety reasons???

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Alva’s penultimate story is about his search for the common denominator between him and Alberta. “Why did we both get the same disease?” After testing for radioactivity and lead paint in the house, he eventually discovers information on the internet about RU being linked to NHL. And finally, he tells us that his dog died “a year after spraying the stuff,” and apologizes for crying in court. You get a pass on that Alva, you must feel like Monsanto nearly killed your wife, and they did kill your dog.

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Smith evenhandedly placates the Big Guy by instructing our jurors to ignore the 2019 model wand, and that they have no reason to be concerned about the RU bottle, it contains only water. Let’s break that last one down: Monsanto has managed to get the judge her-honorable-self to imply that a bottle that did contain RU would be of concern. Nice shooting boys, you shot yourselves in all of your feet! (Or maybe should I say: Well done Brent!)

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The cross reveals that Dr. Rubenstein has an opinion about blood cancers and pesticides. He is asked how he became interested in this topic and explains that it was “obvious” from his experience treating cancer “on the wards.” Well, if Monsanto counsel had any bullets left, I would say they just shot themselves in the foot yet again. It’s been that kind of day.

Court orders EPA to make final decision on banning controversial pesticide

Chlorpyrifos is an agricultural chemical commonly used on apple, orange, strawberry, corn and wheat crops. It was first developed in World War II for use in chemical warfare. The chemical’s use on foods has had a long, embattled history in the U.S. Many scientific studies have shown that the insecticide is linked to alterations in brain structure and cognition, and that children are especially susceptible.

Last year, the appellate court ordered the EPA to remove chlorpyrifos from use within 60 days of an August ruling, ending what would have been a decade long fight by health advocates to ban the substance.

However, the Trump administration promptly appealed that ruling, and the court agreed to rehear the case.

Today’s ruling will force EPA to make a final decision on the chemical. Critics have accused the agency of dragging its heels.

In 2001, EPA barred the use of the chemical for residential use, but the Trump administration has resisted outright banning it. Under former President Obama, the agency proposed a formal ban on the wide use of chlorpyrifos, but the Trump EPA in 2017, lead by then-Administrator Scott Pruitt, reversed the order.

“We are reviewing the court’s order and will be taking final action on the administrative objections before the agency within 90 days," EPA spokesman James Hewitt told The Hill.

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“While we are moving forward, the tragedy is that children are being exposed to chlorpyrifos, a pesticide science has long shown is unsafe," Goldman added. "We hope Trump’s EPA finally decides to protect the future of countless children and the health of millions of farmworkers.”

The court’s ruling comes a day after presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill to restrict schools from purchasing or serving any food that contains any amount of detectable chlorpyrifos.

“As a mother of two young sons, it’s alarming that the food in school meals could contain even a trace of a chemical that could harm students’ development and ability to learn,” Gillibrand, who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in a statement.

Latham: “"It is becoming increasingly apparent that C. auris’s resistance, and that of many other fungi species, is traceable to industrial agriculture’s mass application of fungicides. These chemicals approximate the molecular structures of antifungal drugs."

Last year, Cornucopia publicized the identity of multi-billion dollar agribusinesses and their affiliates, located in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, which have been connected to grain imports of questionable organic status.

Cornucopia has contended that imports from these countries cannot be trusted without verification. We have again called for the USDA to enhance oversight of imports presented for entry at U.S. ports and border crossings.

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EU commission withdraws licence of international organic certifier

The EU commissions has withdrawn the organic certification licence for five countries from the international certification body Control Union, as its bad performance facilitated organic fraud.

When organic food produce is imported in the EU from third party countries, a control body or authority must control and confirm the conformity of the product with the EU-Organic-Regulation. The control authorities have to be recognised by the EU commission; currently there are 57 certification bodies approved by the commission, including several that are operating in over 100 countries worldwide. The EU commission has now withdrawn the approval for Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Control Union Certification (CUC), one of the largest of these international control authorities.

State public records laws help uncover wrongdoing at public universities

At California’s public universities, the California Public Records Act is central to efforts to unearthing research misconduct and fraud, sexual harassment, financial improprieties and misallocation of funds, government waste, corporate influence in research process, the commercialization of the university, the influence of wealthy donors, and administrative cover-ups of all of the above. If enacted, AB700 will shield such scandals from exposure and accountability, and invite more.

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Since 2015, an investigation by U.S. Right to Know has uncovered many more examples of how the food and chemical industries rely on publicly-funded academics and universities for their lobby operations and PR campaigns. Documents we obtained from publicly funded academics, using state public records laws, provided the basis for, or the trail to, all of the following stories:

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The public deserves the right to know what our public universities and their researchers are doing with our tax dollars, and that right properly extends to inspecting the work of our taxpayer-paid employees, including those who work at public universities.

Seralini’s study showed how the previously 90 day studies are misleading as 90 days is not long enough to test for long term effects like organ damage, cancer, and premature death. The first tumors appeared in the rats after four months.

This study was able to distinguish the effects of GM food from GM food grown with allotted pesticides.

Organic Farming Curbs the Spread of Foodborne Pathogens, According to Study

Beyond Pesticides holds the position that these patterns carry a lesson. Insects and microbes that act to control crop pests and fertilize the soil reduce the need for pesticide and chemical fertilizer use. Reliance on chemical controls creates a vicious treadmill: pesticide use kills natural agents of pest control, thus creating a demand for more pesticide use, which kills more of the beneficial organisms, and so on.

Honey bees are the canary in the coalmine — and they’re dying in droves across the globe.

Beekeepers have reported losing over 40% of their honeybee colonies between April 2017 and April 2018. And study after study connects these deaths to a dangerous class of pesticides — neonics, the most heavily used insecticides in the U.S.

Send a message to New York lawmakers telling them to take action on neonics to protect our pollinators and the food systems they sustain.

The secret ingredients in our food may be a lead driver of our obesity, infertility, cancer, digestive problems, autism, brain fog, skin conditions, gluten sensitivity, allergies, fatigue, anxiety, and many other conditions. Meet more than a dozen people whose turned around serious health conditions after adopting a diet that avoids genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and food sprayed with toxic herbicides like Roundup. Learn from leading physicians who say that these are not coincidences. They see illness and recovery like this every day in their practice. And listen to the scientists who explain why.https://secretingredientsmovie.com/

Expert witness Chadi Nabhan, a hematologist and medical oncologist who was chief medical officer for Cardinal Health in Chicago until recently joining Aptitude Health, took the stand Monday with testimony that extended into Tuesday. Plaintiffs’ attorneys have additional testimony to present to jurors via video-recorded depositions before resting their case. Lawyers for Monsanto are expected to offer their own witnesses starting next week. Closing arguments are expected by May 6.

In a long-term animal study by French scientists under Gilles Eric Seralini, Michael Antoniou and associates, it was demonstrated that even ultra-low levels of glyphosate herbicides cause non-alcoholic liver disease. The levels the rats were exposed to, per kg of body weight, were far lower than what is allowed in our food supply. According to the Mayo Clinic, today, after four decades or more pervasive use of glyphosate pesticides, 100 million, or 1 out of 3 Americans now have liver disease. These diagnoses are in some as young as 8 years old.

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What is becoming clearer is the colossal and obviously deliberate official blind eye given to potential dangers of glyphosate-based pesticides by regulatory bodies not only in the EU and the USA, but also in China, which today produces more glyphosate than even Monsanto. Since the Monsanto Roundup patent expired, Chinese companies, including Syngenta, Zhejiang Xinan Chemical Industrial Group Company, SinoHarvest, and Anhui Huaxing Chemical Industry Company, have emerged as the world’s major producers of the chemical as well as largest consumers, a not good omen for the future of the legendary Chinese cuisine.

Why You Should Be Concerned About Monsanto’s New Dangerous Food Technology

Without much more than a whisper from the mainstream media, Monsanto’s newest Frankenfood has received full EPA approval and will be arriving on dinner plates by the end of the decade. The implications of this are harrowing, to say the least.

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Indeed, critics of RNA interference technology make the point that RNAi technology aims to target the production of a specific protein by identifying the sequence in question. But two or more genes can have sequence homologies. This means, as applies to the use of RNA interference in medicine, a gene that is targeted to turn off a “disease-causing gene” could have a number of off-target effects, one of which would be turning off a gene that is essential to health and vitality.

This is, in fact, what happened October of last year, when Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leading developer of RNAi drugs, announced it had decided to discontinue revusiran, its lead drug candidate, after an excess of deaths occurred in the experimental drug group versus placebo. This sent shockwaves throughout the overly exuberant RNAi drug industry, reducing their stock 6% on average.

Criticisms of RNAi in the agricultural sector are long-standing among the highly informed. For instance, Jonathan Latham, Ph.D. and Allison Wilson, Ph.D., wrote a seminal paper on the topic over a decade ago titled “Off-target effects of plant transgenic RNAi: three mechanisms lead to distinct toxicological and environmental hazards,” wherein 3 of the primary safety concerns are addressed:

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As we have seen in Monsanto’s own paper on the topic, foods contain hundreds of small RNAs whose 100% complementarity match with human genes imply they can directly impact, and even silence those genes. This silencing is not necessarily “bad,” but it is clear that we are tinkering with a design that we are only just beginning to understand, much less know how to ascertain the risks of and properly regulate.

But, considering that Monsanto’s research reveals how intricately connected the human and the food genomes are — and furthermore, that post-2008 research has surfaced showing Monsanto was wrong and plant RNAs from food do have direct impacts on human genome/epigenome expression — it is highly irresponsible for them to continue to claim that food manipulation technologies will not have unintended, adverse effects in principle.

Sadly, with the EPAs approval of four new RNAi forms of corn already completed, and likely many more on the way, we may be stuck with secondary and much slower forms of recourse: post-marketing, epidemiological surveillance of exposed populations, where patterns of disease can take decades if not generations to surface — and then with so many confounding factors at play, not with any certainty.

That said, I believe education and the awareness it generates is our best bet at countermanding the widespread acceptance of this highly experimental and obviously dangerous form of genetic engineering. As has been the case recently with glyphosate being classified as a carcinogen by the California EPA, and a growing mainstream movement to fight the forced feeding of non-labeled GMO laden products (March Against Monsanto), the tides are turning. Please help us spread this information far and wide.

RFK, Jr.: "These documents are part of the growing trove of documents known as the #Monsanto Papers. The Monsanto Papers tell an alarming story of ghostwriting, scientific manipulation, collusion with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and previously undisclosed information about how the human body absorbs glyphosate. These documents allow people to see what is happening “behind the curtain” of secrecy that normally shrouds ongoing litigation and provides a deeper understanding of the serious public health consequences surrounding Monsanto’s conduct in marketing #Roundup."

Roundup Cancer Attorneys Release New Monsanto Papers Documents

The documents released today are part of the growing trove of documents known as the Monsanto Papers. The Monsanto Papers tell an alarming story of ghostwriting, scientific manipulation, collusion with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and previously undisclosed information about how the human body absorbs glyphosate. These documents allow people to see what is happening “behind the curtain” of secrecy that normally shrouds ongoing litigation and provides a deeper understanding of the serious public health consequences surrounding Monsanto’s conduct in marketing Roundup.

Baum Hedlund shared the documents with regulators, lawmakers and some media prior to today’s publication. Attorneys Michael L. Baum and R. Brent Wisner also traveled to Canada earlier this year to personally brief Members of Parliament on the issues raised in these and other previously released Monsanto Papers documents.

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One of the key themes in the Monsanto Papers is the company’s effort to derail and discredit scientists that call into question the safety of Roundup and glyphosate. A clear example of this can be found in an email between Monsanto scientist Dr. Daniel Goldstein and academic Bruce Chassy, wherein Dr. Goldstein remarks that the company “has been playing Whack-a-Mole for years and calling it just that” in regards to fending off scientific findings that are at odds with Monsanto’s claim that Roundup is safe.

13 WAYS THAT GMOS HAVE RUINED AMERICA’S WAY OF LIFE BY ZEN HONEYCUTT, MOMS ACROSS AMERICA

I intended to write this article and title it ”How Monsanto Has Ruined Our Lives.” But then I realized it is not just Monsanto who has done these things. They led the way by developing GMOs that can tolerate herbicides and have pesticides built in, but they should not get all the credit. US companies Dow/Dupont, and EU companies Syngenta/ChemChina, BASF, and Bayer/Monsanto have had numerous lawsuits against them as well for egregious crimes against humanity. For now however, because I am not European, I am going to focus on what’s happening in the Good Ol’ US of A. Below is is only a partial list - 15 ways in which Monsanto and all the makers of GMOs and related chemicals have ruined American culture.

Keep in mind this list only pertains to the people who are fully aware of the ways in which GMOs and related toxins can harm our health and life on the planet. For instance, they know that at very low levels, parts per billion and even parts per trillion, glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) like Roundup and Rodeo can cause a myriad of health issues. 80% of GMOs are engineered to withstand glyphosate based herbicides. But avoiding GMOs is not good enough. GBH are sprayed on non GMO, non organic crops like wheat, beans, peas, sugar, soy,and oats as a drying agent and on the soil of thousands of crops,like potatoes,carrots, grapes and berries. The crops then uptake into the plant or fruit and end up in your meal or beverage. Glyphosate does not dry off, wash off or cook off.

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7. Holidays: Eating foods that our parents or in-laws have made for decades is now no longer safe. Family gatherings, instead of being joyful, are often dreaded, just because of the food that will be served. Non-organic foods like GMO potatoes, RBGst GMO growth hormone in milk and cheese, glyphosate on wheat, SynBio in vanilla, CRISPR in mushrooms, and more have now completely ruined Grandma’s scalloped potatoes. Auntie Sue’s Mac-n-Cheese, your sister’s angel cake, and Grandpa’s stir fry garlic mushroom topping that your husband loves to pile on Uncle Joe’s marinated medium steak, which is also ruined by the way, have been dangerously manipulated by factory farming and GMO animal feed. Oh, and those alcoholic beverages we like to indulge in in over the holidays? Most wine and beer tested have been found to contain glyphosate. They have ruined our way of celebrating! Not to mention the stress of trying to educate non-willing family members on why you do not want to consume what they have lovingly prepared. Thanks Monsanto, you ruined many of our family relationships, too.

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What to do about this besides weep and rage? Eat organic. Opt out of the Big Ag GMO chemical farming industry by buying and growing organic and regeneratively farmed food. Also, opt out of Big Pharma (all have sister companies that are Big Ag) by treating your family with food as medicine. Don’t stress about why are they doing this - we know why, it’s all about money. We stop them from ruining our lives by taking the power back and educating ourselves. Learn about the herbs, barks, teas, and tinctures that our ancestors used and regain the knowledge and power we have had for thousands of years....before Big Pharma and Big Ag came along and ruined almost all of our ways of life.

New survey in humans shows link between advanced liver disease and glyphosate

Dr Antoniou's study, being a controlled animal feeding trial, shows a causative link between exposure to Roundup herbicide and NAFLD and NASH.

Prof Mills' study does not prove that glyphosate actually causes liver disease. It is an "after the fact" study in humans with liver disease, in which exposure to glyphosate herbicide was not controlled but glyphosate excretion was measured after the subjects became ill. However, it does show a correlation between high glyphosate levels in human urine and NASH.

The study suggests that people should minimise their exposure to glyphosate herbicide and other pesticides by seeking out organically grown food.

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Dr Antoniou continued, "The question that remains unanswered is which component(s) of commercial glyphosate-based herbicides constitute the NAFLD-NASH risk factor. Is it the glyphosate alone, or the toxic adjuvants present in commercial formulations, or a combination of the two? Further studies are needed to resolve this crucial issue.”

Vrain: "Mind boggling epigenetic study. Glyphosate increased prostate, kidney and ovarian diseases, as well as heightened obesity and birth abnormalities in future generations of rats that were not exposed to the chemical. This is about your children and grandchildren. "

Conclusions: In summary, glyphosate was found to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease and pathology through germline (i.e. sperm) epimutations. Negligible pathology was observed in the F0 and F1 generations, while a significant increase in pathology and disease was observed in the F2 generation grand-offspring and F3 generation great-grand-offspring. Therefore, glyphosate appears to have a low or negligible toxic risk for direct exposure, but promotes generational toxicology in future generations. Observations suggest generational toxicology needs to be incorporated into the risk assessment of glyphosate and all other potential toxicants, as previouslydescribed 45. The ability of glyphosate and other environmental toxicants to impact our future generations needs to be considered, and is potentially as important as the direct exposure toxicology done today for risk assessment.

Dr. Thierry Vrain, former genetic engineer and soil biologist with Agriculture Canada, spoke with us today about his concerns with genetically engineered crops (GMOs) and more importantly, the use of Glyphosate (RoundUp). Dr. Vrain’s background in the field of genetic engineering (for 30 years), makes him an expert on this gene technology. He explained how a cell is genetically engineered and what happens after this random insertion process through a gene gun and how it can have unknown effects.

Since leaving Agriculture Canada 12 years ago, he has learned much more about the process of genetic engineering and the BT process (insect resistant) and the HT (herbicide resistant) crops that make up about 500 million acres. His primary concern at this time is the widespread use of Glyphosate which is a powerful herbicide, mineral chelator and a patented antibiotic. Dr. Vrain stated when speaking about Glyphosate:

“It’s almost as if the entire population of North American is on a low-grade antibiotic diet day in day out from birth, everyday, so this is the reality.”

Farmers across the world are ditching their ploughs to protect ecosystems – and it’s working

The insects are the bottom of the food chain and there are so many things that eat them,” he says. “Since they have come back we have seen a huge increase in birds: skylarks, flocks of yellowhammers, kites, buzzards, and we are not doing anything special to attract them – they just love the fields, the system we have here.

RFK, Jr.: “Captive agencies. Trump's CDC has gone over to The Dark Side. The timing is suspect. EPA dropped this gift to #Monsanto just as our case heads toward jury and EU is poised to make its own momentous decision about glyphosate.”

Seneff: “The EPA thinks glyphosate is fine and we can carry on with business as usual.”

US government declares Roundup weed killer is NOT dangerous to humans despite two landmark cases that found glyphosate caused cancer

-Two juries have sided against Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, after deciding there was enough evidence that glyphosate is carcinogenic

EPA Official Once Tried to Kill It, But the Nearly-Dead ATSDR Report Returns to Haunt Monsanto and Bayer

This week a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), released the long-awaited Draft Toxicological Profile for Glyphosate. And, it supports and strengthens the 2015 cancer assessment of another health agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

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A pattern is emerging: non-industry experts (Zhang et al 2019) and health agencies IARC and ATSDR are finding a link with glyphosate and cancer; whereas, regulatory agencies are lining up with Monsanto and Bayer that it does not cause cancer, even when reviewing the same scientific evidence (see ATSDR Fig 2-13).

This makes clear that the question is not whether new GMOs can be detected – they can – but whether there is sufficient political will to insist on the right of the public to know how the food they eat was produced.

Earlier, Wenning and his protege Baumann sought to reassure stockholders even as hundreds of protesters outside erected the CEO’s effigy from bales of hay and shouted “shame on you.” Inside, investors demanded explanations, with one likening the company to “a pile of broken glass.”

The MMR II vaccine had levels up to 25 times higher than the other vaccines. Following our test, additional independent tests have confirmed these findings at or above the same levels. The tests were conducted using the ELISA method.

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According to MIT scientist Dr. Stephanie Seneff, "Glyphosate could easily be present in vaccines due to the fact that certain vaccine viruses including measles in MMR and flu are grown on gelatin derived from the ligaments of pigs fed heavy doses of glyphosate in their GMO feed. Gelatin comes from collagen which has lots of glycine. Livestock feed is allowed to have up to 400 PPM [parts per million] of glyphosate residues by the EPA, thousands of times higher than has been shown to cause harm in numerous studies."

French scientist and glyphosate expert Gilles-Eric Séralini has shown in his research that glyphosate is never used alone. It is always used with adjuvants (co-formulants/other chemicals) and he has found those adjuvants to make Roundup 1,000 times more toxic. The detection of glyphosate in vaccines with this methodology would indicate the presence of other co-formulants which are also toxic.

RFK, Jr.: “Lawmakers in several states are trying to ban chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide that the EPA is fighting to keep on the market. Several studies have linked prenatal exposure of chlorpyrifos to lower birth weights, lower IQs, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other developmental issues in children.”

States Weigh Banning A Widely Used Pesticide Even Though EPA Won’t

The pesticide, chlorpyrifos, kills insects on contact by attacking their nervous systems.

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Earlier this year, congressional Democrats also introduced bills to ban the pesticide nationally, but experts believe states are more likely to succeed than Congress. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who is running for president, introduced a separate bill last week that would prohibit schools from serving fruits and vegetables sprayed with the pesticide.

“I don’t see this as something we should still be debating,” said Irva Hertz-Picciotto, an epidemiologist and director of the Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of California-Davis.

Hertz-Picciotto testified during a California Senate Health Committee hearing April 10 on California’s bill to ban the use of the pesticide. She said more than three dozen studies have demonstrated a connection between prenatal exposure of chlorpyrifos and developmental disabilities, including symptoms of autism.

“No study has identified a level at which we can consider it safe,” she told lawmakers.

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Under the administration of President Barack Obama, the EPA in 2015 proposed a complete ban of chlorpyrifos, citing evidence of health risks. But in 2017, President Donald Trump’s EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, declined to ban it.

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Then the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the pesticide completely off the market last summer. The EPA is fighting that decision.

“The EPA is contradicting the findings of its own scientists,” said Aseem Prakash, the director of the Center for Environmental Politics at the University of Washington.

Prakash accused the EPA of serving the interests of the chemical industry over people’s health.

Jonathan Jones: “As a beekeeper who has been watching and studying all aspects of honeybee issues, I believe a major portion of what is going on with colony collapse, etc., is glyphosate acting progressively with each generation. Even using organic methods have not decreased issues with my bee colonies. Glyphosate is everywhere since it is water soluble. Nasty.”

Prenatal exposure to ambient pesticides increases the risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children, per study results published in the British Medical Journal.

Investigators obtained the records of patients with ASD from the California Department of Developmental Services. Data collection included patients with comorbid intellectual disability. Each case was matched with their respective birth record extracted from the Office of Vital Statistics. Randomly selected control records were matched to each case 10:1 by birth year and sex. The California-mandated Pesticide Use Reporting system was used to develop a geographic information system tool. Residential birth addresses, as listed on birth certificates, were geocoded to estimate prenatal and infant exposure to pesticides. The study examined 11 high-use pesticides based on prior implication in neurodevelopmental toxicity. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to estimate the association between ASD and each exposure.

Desiccation of WheatOne would wonder why wheat is sprayed with glyphosate, even though wheat is not a GMO crop. This was the exact question asked by Dr. Stephanie Seneff as she researched the connection between the rise in celiac disease and the use of glyphosate.

Through her research, Dr. Seneff found that wheat farmers are using glyphosate on their crop just before wheat harvest for two reasons. First, they are desiccating non-organic wheat crops so they kill off the wheat after harvest so there is less to clear. Second, when you expose wheat to a toxic chemical such as glyphosate, it releases more seed as it dies. As a result, farmers get higher yield.

As a result, glyphosate can be found in one of the most-common ingredients of the modern western diet – wheat. Is this practice of desiccating the wheat crop mean the decimation of the gut? Dr. Seneff believes so:

“I just do not understand how the US government refuses to acknowledge that we’re basically slowly poisoning and killing our population.” ~ Dr. Stephanie Seneff

Seneff: “Remarkable new study on glyphosate - exposing the pregnant rat to low levels of glyphosate caused no perceivable harm to the rat but caused dramatic effects on the reproductive organs of subsequent generations.”

Superbugs to Kill More People than Cancer if Industrial Agriculture Doesn't Ditch Antibiotics and Pesticides

The result is antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can be passed on to humans through the consumption of animal products or direct exposure to animal manure, which is often generously applied to farmland as a means to cope with the vast amount of waste produced by concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

A study published in the journal JAMA found that people living near pig farms or cropland fertilized with pig manure are 30 percent more likely to contract methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria or MRSA.

In November 2018, Consumer Reports revealed that it detected a number of prohibited drugs in hundreds of samples of meat products sold in the U.S. Testing found ketamine, a hallucinogenic party drug, phenylbutazone, a dangerous anti-inflammatory, and chloramphenicol, a powerful antibiotic linked to potentially deadly anemia, in beef, poultry and pork products.

GM Watch: “US Right to Know analyses claims for glyphosate's safety by Mark Lynas, the American Council on Science and Health, and others. It's encouraging to see how quickly and thoroughly lobbyists' spin on glyphosate-based herbicides is now being discredited.”

Glyphosate spin check: Tracking claims about the most widely used herbicide

Faced with this evidence, the Judge granted the protection order, and pointed out that GM crops violate the Rights to Life, Health, Work, A Healthy Environment and the Rights of Nature.

In his sentence the Judge ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to:

Burn all the GM crops found in the monitoring projectConfiscate and Burn all batches of GM seedsEstablish a permanent GMO surveillance program to prevent the planting of GM crops in Ecuador (except for experimental purposes)Start a training program on the dangers of genetically modified crops for officials and peasant farmersInclude “Ecuador is a GM Free country” clearly on the Ministry website.Send an order to the Prosecutor’s Office in all of the areas where GM crops were found, in order to identify those responsible for the entry of GM crops in to the country.

Israeli invents device that can test pesticide residues on food in real time

“Using our system will save on cost and turnaround time over the current lengthy and expensive process of sending samples to certified labs,” Avidan tells ISRAEL21c.

“We are already engaged in pilot projects with leading food companies wanting to take product safety assurance and traceability to the next level. Our aim is to go to field beta testing in Q3 of this year.”

These pilots began in January with three major companies in Europe to test raw ingredients and one in the United States to test a processed product.

“Food manufacturers have what we call a ‘wish list’ of contaminants covering different stages in the supply chain,” he explains. “Today it’s impossible for these companies to check everything because of how they have to sample in a low volume and frequency. We will help them get to mass frequency of testing.”

Punitive action must be taken against the seed suppliers and the company which developed the GM variety, said the activists warning against a repeat of earlier episodes of illegal spread of GM cotton and soyabean.

OCA: “Meet Wendy Pratt. A fourth-generation cattle rancher, Pratt believes regenerative grazing can help heal the planet. In this video, she talks regenerative grazing and the benefits of using the planet's naturally occurring cycles. &#128002;&#127793;”

Before Earth Day 1970, we had no Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). No Clean Water Act. No Clean Air Act. But because ordinary citizens mobilized on a massive scale, lawmakers started to take seriously their obligation to protect our common natural resources from polluters and plunderers. Congress set up the EPA. Laws were written. Progress was made. Over time, corporate lobbyists have managed to weaken those laws. Today, we have an administration that has unabashedly made it its mission to undermine, roll back and wipe out that progress.

On a personal note, I spent 17 years as a reporter at Reuters covering Monsanto and I am horrified at this violation of journalistic standards. It is particularly noteworthy that Alix Freedman is the same person who told me I was not allowed to write about many independent scientific studies of Monsanto’s glyphosate that were showing harmful impacts .

At the very least, Kelland should have been honest with readers and acknowledged that Monsanto was her source – on that story, and apparently many others. Reuters owes the world – and IARC – an apology.

The secret ingredients in our food may be a lead driver of our obesity, infertility, cancer, digestive problems, autism, brain fog, skin conditions, gluten sensitivity, allergies, fatigue, anxiety, and many other conditions. Meet more than a dozen people whose turned around serious health conditions after adopting a diet that avoids genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and food sprayed with toxic herbicides like Roundup. Learn from leading physicians who say that these are not coincidences. They see illness and recovery like this every day in their practice. And listen to the scientists who explain why.https://secretingredientsmovie.com/

Sparks to Fly in Closing Arguments at Third Roundup Cancer TrialAfter two costly courtroom losses, lawyers for Monsanto and its German owner Bayer AG on Wednesday were set to make closing arguments in what is the third trial brought by people who blame their cancers on use of Monsanto’s Roundup and other glyphosate-based weed killer brands.

Plaintiffs Alva and Alberta Pilliod, a married couple in their 70s who both have non-Hodgkin lymphoma, claim that Monsanto should be held liable for their illnesses because scientific evidence shows Monsanto’s herbicides can cause cancer and because Monsanto failed to properly warn of the risks.

While Monsanto has maintained that the weight of scientific evidence shows no causal connection between non-Hodgkin lymphoma and its glyphosate herbicides, lawyers for the Pilliods presented scientific evidence during the trial that does show a cancer link. Moreover, the plaintiffs’ attorneys showed jurors a trove of internal Monsanto communications and other records that they said displayed the company’s manipulation of scientific literature, including ghostwriting several papers published in scientific journals. Also among the evidence were records showing Monsanto efforts to influence regulatory agencies, to plant helpful stories in the global news outlet Reuters, and to discredit scientists who determined the company’s products were potentially carcinogenic.

Closing arguments are expected to take most or all of the day and tensions on both sides are high.

On Tuesday, Monsanto filed a motion seeking to head off what it said were likely to be “improper” closing arguments by the lawyers representing the Pilliods. They singled out attorneys Brent Wisner and Michael Baum for criticism, citing various actions.

“Monsanto has a real concern that counsel’s closing argument in this case will be replete with misconduct,” the motion states.

In the motion, Monsanto attorneys said that the Pilliod lawyers “already turned this trial into a circus on multiple occasions,” including by twice putting on gloves before handling a Roundup bottle that contained only water.

In addition, the lawyers “paraded around celebrities and anti-Monsanto advocates Neil Young and Daryl Hannah… engaging in photo-ops right outside the jury room in a clearly improper attempt to influence the jury.”

“If any members of the jury were to perform a simple Google search for Mr. Young or Ms. Hannah, they would quickly learn of their strong anti-Monsanto sentiment,” Monsanto said in its filing, pointing out that four years ago Young produced an album critical of the company called “The Monsanto Years.”

In addition, Monsanto said, “Ms. Hannah’s Twitter account contains numerous tweets about the Roundup trials, including one where she specifically wrote about her experience in court during this trial: “Well that was a trip! – of course I know these skeevy corporate cronies manipulate & lie – but to see it right in front of your eyes is soooo depressing & creepy.”’

Monsanto also said that Wisner’s characterization of the case as “historic” should not be allowed again. Similarly, none of the plaintiffs’ lawyers should be allowed to suggest that the verdict will “change the world or have any effect outside of this case,” Monsanto argued.

The tiny courtroom in Oakland, California is expected to be packed. Dewayne “Lee” Johnson, who won the first trial against Monsanto last summer, is expected to be in attendance, as is Edwin Hardeman, who won the second trial.

Like the two previous trials, internal Monsanto records have provided some drama. On Tuesday, internal communications from last summer were made available by the court indicating clear White House support for Monsanto. In a report attached to a July 2018 email to Monsanto global strategy official Todd Rands, the strategic intelligence and advisory firm Hakluyt reported to Monsanto the following:

“A domestic policy adviser at the White House said, for instance: ‘We have Monsanto’s back on pesticides regulation. We are prepared to go toe-to-toe on any disputes they may have with, for example, the EU. Monsanto need not fear any additional regulation from this administration.”

Seneff: “Get ready for a vaccine against Celiac disease! This article discusses all kinds of hypotheses for why the rate is now four times as high as it was in 1950. Of course, no mention of glyphosate.”

Fast-track designation is, by definition, “a process designed to facilitate the development, and expedite the review of drugs to treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need,”4 or for therapies that are expected to improve significantly upon existing treatments. Both measures may be somewhat subjective and are affected by a number of outside considerations.5 By all definitions, however, fast-track status implies some urgency for getting a therapy approved.

(Please report any illness associated with eating this engineered/lab grown/fake meat to IRT.)

IRT: “The Impossible Burger is a genetically engineered meat substitute. Available through a number of restaurants, it is highly controversial and it may even be causing health issues. A number of people have already reported digestive distress after eating the "burger." This is not surprising to us given its ingredients, including a combination of untested genetically engineered proteins. We believe that this burger should never have been allowed in the marketplace. The impossible burger, in addition to using genetically engineered soy that was sprayed with Roundup herbicide, and genetically engineered derived vitamins, utilizes a high-risk genetically engineered yeast in its production process. Friends don't let friends eat GMO burgers! Help us stop the Impossible Burger today.

https://responsibletechnology.salsalabs.org/impo…/index.html

NYC leaders call for ban on spraying in parks but are okay with having Monsanto’s poison injected into our bodies via vaccination.

Thank you to the doctors and researchers that are more concerned with the health of our nation than the size of their bank account.

IRT: “The declining status of children’s health is a growing concern. In response to the rapid rise in conditions such as autism, cancer, ADHD, GI distress, anxiety, depression, asthma, skin conditions, learning disabilities, and autoimmunity, Carla Atherton, Director of the Healthy Family Formula, has put together the 4th ONLINE Children’s Health Summit. Yes, listen from the comfort of your own home! The topic of this year’s summit? “Preventing and Reversing Childhood Chronic Illness,” and Jeffrey Smith will be speaking! Find out more here:”

Unstoppable with Kerwin Rae: Why it’s time to think about human extinction with Dr David Suzuki

After listening to this ep with Dr David Suzuki, you’ll never be the same again. The environmentalist, activist, professor of genetics and science broadcaster hits us with some home truths about what our future will look like if we continue to live the way we have been. What will life be like for our children and grandchildren? Can the damage we’ve done to the planet be reversed? Is extinction of the human race imminent? We talk about population control, the importance of renewable energy and discuss what we can do right now in our own lives that can actually make a difference. This is for anyone who cares about the future of mankind.

Microbe Inotech lab detected 6 out of 20 (30%) of Pediasure samples from the same batch tested postive at levels above 75ppb at 800-1110 X higher than has been shown to destroy gut bacteria in chickens (.1ppb). Only 50ppT ( trillion) was shown to cause liver, kidney and sex hormone changes in rats. These samples were sent by a Moms Across America supporter.This is the exact brand used in the pediatric rehabilitation hospital where she worked and was fed patients needing tube feeding in critical care.

EPA Seeks Public Comment on Use of Monsanto’s Weedkiller, Glyphosate on Oats Used in Foods Marketed to Kids

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency is formally requesting feedback on a petition submitted by EWG and food companies seeking to significantly limit the use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer/Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup, on oats that are used to make a wide array of children’s foods, like breakfast bars and cereals.

EPA announced today that it will open up a 30-day public comment period beginning Monday, May 6.

Two rounds of laboratory tests commissioned by EWG found glyphosate in nearly every sample of oat-based cereal and other breakfast products at levels higher than what EWG considers protective for children’s health.

“No parent should worry whether feeding their children healthy oat-based foods will also expose them to a chemical linked to cancer,” said EWG Legislative Director Colin O’Neil.

“If EPA ultimately supports this petition, it could be the beginning of the end for one of the primary sources of glyphosate exposure in the diets of both children and adults,” said O’Neil. “We can be sure that the pesticide/agrichemical lobby won’t sit on the sidelines, though. Over the next month, it will be paramount that EPA hear from as many Americans as possible in order to build the necessary pressure to finally prohibit this needless use of Monsanto’s cancer-causing weedkiller.”

“For far too long, millions of Americans have been getting a dose of this toxic herbicide along with their breakfast,” said EWG Senior Science Advisor for Children’s Environmental Health Olga Naidenko, Ph.D. “If the EPA really cares about children’s health, it should cut off the largest source of glyphosate exposure from foods that children eat daily.”

The EPA’s legal limit on glyphosate residues is 30 parts per million, or ppm. The petition, joined by 18 industry leaders, asks the EPA to set a more protective standard of 0.1 ppm, which was the legal limit in 1993.

Over the past 25 years, the EPA has increased the amount of glyphosate residue allowed on oats 300-fold. The first increase, to 20 ppm, was granted in response to a 1997 petition from Monsanto, when farmers around the world first began using glyphosate widely as a late-season drying agent. It was increased to the current 30 ppm level in 2008.

Since then, scientists have linked glyphosate to cancer, and researchers around the world have called for stricter limits on glyphosate exposures.

In 2015, 17 of the world’s top cancer researchers convened by the International Agency for Research on Cancer reviewed hundreds of studies on glyphosate and voted unanimously to classify the weedkiller as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” In 2017, California added glyphosate to its official list of chemicals known to cause cancer.

A new analysis of glyphosate, released in April by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, gives weight to studies connecting glyphosate and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and recommends monitoring children’s exposure to this toxic weedkiller.

New survey in humans shows link between advanced liver disease and glyphosate

The study suggests that people should minimise their exposure to glyphosate herbicide and other pesticides by seeking out organically grown food.

Commenting on the new study, Dr Antoniou said, “Our laboratory animal studies identified Roundup exposure as a previously unsuspected risk factor for developing NAFLD and NASH. The survey conducted by Prof Mills takes takes our findings a step forward by demonstrating a correlation between glyphosate exposure and the severity of liver disease in humans."

Dr Antoniou continued, "The question that remains unanswered is which component(s) of commercial glyphosate-based herbicides constitute the NAFLD-NASH risk factor. Is it the glyphosate alone, or the toxic adjuvants present in commercial formulations, or a combination of the two? Further studies are needed to resolve this crucial issue.”

Superbugs to Kill More People than Cancer if Industrial Agriculture Doesn't Ditch Antibiotics and Pesticides

A recent study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment found more than 100 pesticides and 21 drugs in 29 waterways tested in 10 European nations. The substances detected include fungicides, herbicides and insecticides, as well as antibiotics used in livestock.

Scientists say the effects of these various substances mixing together in nature are unknown. However, mounting evidence links pesticides, as well as pollution, habitat changes and global warming, to an “insect Armageddon,” as insect populations were found to decline 76 percent during a 27-year research period.

How GMO Seeds and Monsanto/Bayer’s “RoundUp” are Driving US Policy in Venezuela

With Juan Guaidó’s parallel government attempting to take power with the backing of the U.S., it is telling that the top political donors of those in the U.S. most fervently pushing regime change in Venezuela have close ties to Monsanto and major financial stakes in Bayer.

The EPA said its decision that glyphosate does not cause cancer is “consistent with the conclusions of science reviews by many other countries and other federal agencies”.

But another federal agency said earlier this month it could not rule out a link between glyphosate and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, within the US health department, published a 257-page report suggesting more research was needed.

Jennifer Sass, a chemicals expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said: “Health agencies and credible non-industry experts who have reviewed this question have all found a link between glyphosate and cancer.”

Olga Naidenko, a senior science adviser for the EWG, said more studies were necessary to know, in particular, how much glyphosate children were consuming.

“All of us are exposed and it is not just the risk of cancer because, as the latest research has indicated, for example, glyphosate can have very subtle interference with the endocrine system,” Naidenko said.

In the EPA press release, the US agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue, said: “If we are going to feed 10bn people by 2050, we are going to need all the tools at our disposal, which includes the use [of] glyphosate.”

Naidenko countered that in the past, farmers had been able to grow crops without it.

The EPA has acknowledged that glyphosate poses an ecological danger. According to a press release, it “is proposing management measures to help farmers target pesticide sprays on the intended pest, protect pollinators and reduce the problem of weeds becoming resistant to glyphosate”.

Following Their Hoosick Falls Playbook, State Officials Refuse to Share Test Results From 135 PFAS-Tainted Sites

ALBANY, May 7, 2019 —At least 135 public water systems across the state are contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals known as PFAS at levels above recommended thresholds for mandatory cleanup, according to state water sampling data.

...

Hoosick Falls drew nationwide attention in when it belatedly ordered a drinking water ban in early 2016 — long after state and local officials knew about dangerously elevated levels of PFOA, a common PFAS compound. State agencies “knew but didn’t inform the public” for 18 months before the federal Environmental Protection Agency ordered public disclosure, Moran added.

Seneff: “Depression, ADHD, hypertension, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease - all getting worse in the millennials. Health starts to go downhill at age 27. This is going to make medical costs soar even more than the already unsustainable levels they are at now.”

Millennials' health plummets after the age of 27: Study finds the generation has unprecedented rates of diabetes, depression, and digestive disorders

Exposure to atrazine does not kill right away. For sensitive species however, atrazine's sublethal effects can be almost as devastating.

Fish and amphibians are most vulnerable. A growing body of research shows that atrazine exposure--even to trace levels of the herbicide--can adversely impact a number of species. Tyrone Hayes and other scientists have conducted research to show that exposing frogs to as little as 0.1 parts per billion can cause severe health effects, including a kind of chemical castration. Atrazine exposure from contaminated surface water is also known to compromise fish and amphibian growth, behavior, immune function, and gonadal development. Hayes recently found that 10% of male frogs reared in atrazine laced water turned completely into females. Strikingly, the level of atrazine used in the study — 2.5 ppb — is less than the EPA limit for drinking water contamination.

Coca-Cola Can Bury Adverse Findings from Health Research It Funds, Study Says

Coca-Cola’s research contracts are typical of other corporate funding contracts for public health research. Given corporate influence over corporate-funded public health research, and the inadequacy of standard conflict of interest statements to describe this influence, the study’s authors “recommend journals supplement funding disclosures and conflict-of-interest statements by requiring authors to attach funder agreements.”

The study raises particular concerns about the prospect of early termination of corporate-funded public health research, and the impact such termination may have on knowledge of the public health effects of corporate products or practices. The authors recommend that “Where studies are terminated without having been registered in advance, as should be the case with clinical trials, it may be that termination acts as suppression of critical health information. We therefore call for industry funders to publish complete lists of terminated studies as part of their commitment to act with integrity, and for clear declarations of involvement as standard publication practice.”

“We are already hearing accusations from experts in nutrition that the food industry is copying tactics from big tobacco’s playbook,” said Sarah Steele, the lead author of the study. “Corporate social responsibility has to be more than just shiny websites stating progressive policies that get ignored.”

The EPA is meant to protect us. The Monsanto trials suggest it isn't doing that

…Revelations that have emerged from the trial testimony include:

* Monsanto never conducted epidemiology studies for Roundup and its other formulations made with the active ingredient glyphosate, to see if the products could lead to cancer in people who used them.

* At the same time as Monsanto was refusing to conduct long-term product safety studies, the company was spending millions of dollars on secretive PR campaigns – including $17m budgeted in a single year – to finance ghostwritten studies and op-eds aimed at discrediting independent scientists whose work found dangers with Monsanto’s herbicides.

* Several Monsanto scientists spent years putting together a sweeping paper that was published in a scientific journal in 2000, concluding Roundup posed…

A former corn-syrup lobbyist is drafting new federal dietary rules (seriously)

Under President Trump, the process is being overseen to a large extent by a former lobbyist for the Corn Refiners Assn. — the high-fructose corn syrup industry.

Yes, that would be the same sweetener commonly found in soda, candy, breakfast cereal, canned fruit, condiments and other processed foods and drinks frequently linked with the obesity crisis and increasing rates of diabetes and heart disease.

Meanwhile, a blue-ribbon committee of “nationally recognized health and nutrition experts” advising on the new guidelines contains a number of academics with significant ties to food and beverage companies.

A growing body of research is challenging the assumption that neonicotinoids are safer and less likely to spread than other pesticides

Neonicotinoids, which target insects’ nervous systems with lethal efficiency, were developed by Bayer in the 1980s as a safer alternative to existing pesticides. They are considered less toxic to vertebrates, and rather than being broadly sprayed over fields they can be applied directly to seeds or delivered via irrigation and incorporated into tissue as the plant develops—in theory minimizing their chances of spreading into the environment. But a growing body of research is challenging that paradigm, pointing to toxic impacts on nonpest species from bees to deer, and to transmission beyond farm fields. Only 2 to 20 percent of the neonicotinoids applied to seeds make it into the plant, says Jonathan Lundgren, an ecologist who worked with Jenks and directs the Ecdysis Foundation, an agricultural research organization. “That begs the question of where the other 80 to 98 percent of the chemicals are going,” he says. “And we’re starting to find them in other areas of the environment. We’re finding them in surface waters. We’re finding them in untreated plants.”

Recent court cases have focused on the possible effects of glyphosate, found in Monsanto’s Roundup, on humans. But researchers are now investigating whether this commonly used herbicide could also be having adverse effects on the health and behavior of honeybees.

Administration to keep weedkiller on the market after landmark court rulings and concerns over food

Jennifer Sass, a chemicals expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said: “Health agencies and credible non-industry experts who have reviewed this question have all found a link between glyphosate and cancer.”

…

“All of us are exposed and it is not just the risk of cancer because, as the latest research has indicated, for example, glyphosate can have very subtle interference with the endocrine system,” Naidenko said.

Seneff: “Perhaps no surprise, but the Saint Lawrence river system is full of agrichemicals that are harming the fish.”

Pesticides are all over the St. Lawrence River — many at levels that hurt fish and invertebratesScientists tested the river system and found nearly one-third of the samples had neonicotinoid pesticides at levels higher than the threshold to protect aquatic creatures. Glyphosate and atrazine were in more than 80% of samples.

Papantonio and Abby Martin: Bayer…Still A Sociopathic Drug Company - The Ring Of Fire

In the 1980’s, Bayer Corporation produced a medicine that was supposed to improve the lives of hemophiliacs. Bayer didn’t tell those hemophiliacs that their product was infected with HIV. Entire families of hemophiliacs died with AIDS as the virus spread within households. When Bayer was ordered to stop selling their drug in America, they dumped their AIDS laden product in Asia and killed Asian families. No one with Bayer management was arrested. No one who made those psychopathic quality decisions went to prison

“Until our elected leaders in Congress require the EPA to adopt more transparent, science-based practices that prioritize the health of Americans over industry profits, consumers should assume they’re on their own when it comes to protecting themselves and their families.” JFK, Jr.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...jl_CZVN_S_yeXtI

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Pilliod v Monsanto Oakland, CA Closing Statements 5-8-19, a Little Monsanto History on Glyphosate Fraud from the Get-Go as told by master story-teller/attorney Brent Wisner. They KNEW and what did they do??.....

In recent years, updates to the standards (or a lack thereof) have caused concern. Here’s what you should know:

Recently, organic advocates proposed stricter rules for organic livestock certification called the “Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices.” The proposed changes would have raised standards for organic animal agriculture and tightened enforcement.4 Unfortunately, the rule didn’t pass. That means, for example, that although some egg cartons bear the organic seal, the chickens’ “outdoor access” was to an enclosed porch rather than true pasture. That’s not the bucolic farm consumers imagine when they think “organic.”

Congress passed a bill allowing hydroponic production under the organic seal.5 Many organic farmers feel strongly that soil is the essence of organic, and hydroponic requires no soil. It is possible to buy a product with the organic label that was grown indoors under artificial light and without soil.

As organic has become more profitable, there’s been an increase in import fraud. That means that some shipments (usually livestock feed) claimed as organic were actually conventional. The most recent Farm Bill has applied specific resources to eliminating fraud.As more and more labels have entered the marketplace, like Fair Trade, Biodynamic, Non-GMO, Certified Humane, and more, confusion in the grocery aisle has increased.

The bottom line: no current label is as all-encompassing as USDA Certified Organic.

USDA Certified Organic is the only label that means no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers, and no GMOs—not to mention it prohibits dozens of other additives.

…

There are several new certifications emerging that aim to take organic even higher. If you’re as passionate about soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness as we are, keep your eyes open for these “coming soon” labels:

Regenerative Organic Certification: Regenerative Organic Certification requires eligible farms to be USDA certified organic first. The farms must then implement additional practices to improve soil health, animal welfare, and social justice. Learn more at RegenOrganic.org.The Real Organic Project: The Real Organic Project is also an add-on to USDA certified organic. It prohibits hydroponics and upholds high standards for animal welfare and soil health. Read the standards at RealOrganicProject.org.

OCA: In the last two months, two presidential candidates—Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—have floated proposals to take on Big Agribusiness and start rallying support for America’s small family farmers.

You don’t have to support, or even like, Sens. Warren or Sanders. (As a nonprofit organization, we don’t endorse candidates—but we do support or oppose their positions on the issues we care about).

But if you care about a clean environment, pesticide-free food, and your local organic farmer, you’ve got to like what these two candidates are saying. And if we let these candidates know we support their plans to take on Big Ag, who knows how many more candidates will finally see the light?

Illegal Bt brinjal in India: A call to initiate criminal proceedings against regulators and corporations

The letter also includes a lab report: a definitive test carried out at accredited laboratory SGS in Ahmedabad, which states that the brinjal sample from Haryana sent to it tested positive for a plant GMO: the test confirms that the brinjal in question is genetically modified.

Soy found to be ‘unfit for human consumption’ and what the industry never told you about it

There is no such thing as an all-natural soy-based food, because soybeans are toxic in their natural state. Processing is essential for soy foods, because soy is poisonous in its natural organic state (containing natural insecticides), so there are never truly organic soy products for human consumption.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York lawmakers have voted to join Hawaii in banning a widely used pesticide that's blamed for harming the brains of babies.

The Democrat-led Senate and Assembly passed legislation Tuesday evening that would immediately prohibit aerial spraying of chlorpyrifos. All use of the pesticide would be banned in December 2021.

The pesticide is used on many crops, including apples, a leading New York product.

California and other states are also considering restrictions on the chemical after the Trump administration balked at a federal ban.

Studies have linked chrlopyrifos to neurological problems in children. A federal appeals court ruled last year that the Trump administration endangered public health by ignoring evidence about the pesticide.

The measure now moves to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who hasn't weighed in on the bill.

“That is a number that changes things,” lawyer Brent Wisner said Wednesday at the close of a trial in state court in Oakland, California. He also asked the jury to award about $55 million to compensate Alva and Alberta Pilliod for economic damages like hospital bills and noneconomic losses such as pain and suffering.

Investors have been closely watching developments in the costly Roundup litigation, and Bayer fell as much as 2.6% Thursday in Frankfurt. The shares have fallen about 40 percent since the $63 billion Monsanto purchase was completed in June.

Wisner argued that Monsanto’s internal data and documents reveal its “manipulation and fabrication of science,” just like other defective products that got to market based on fraudulent representations that they were safe.

OCA: “The U.S. is asking China to lift a ban on ractopamine, a drug used to increase weight gain and leanness in pigs, cattle and turkeys. The drug, banned in 160 countries, is linked to health problems in humans.”

The War Over Ractopamine is Heating Up

Still, even while facing protein deficits as a result, the country has been resistant to importing ractopamine-treated meat. In fact, ractopamine, a beta agonist used to increase weight gain, feed efficiency and leanness in pigs, cattle and turkeys, is banned in most other countries, including China, Russia, Taiwan and the European Union.2

Only 26 major meat-producing countries allow ractopamine use,3 while at least 160 have banned it.4 The growth drug, marketed as Paylean for pigs, Optaflexx for cattle and Topmax for turkeys, is controversial not only because it's linked to adverse effects in animals but also because of human health concerns.

The continued use of the drug in U.S. meat is causing tensions during talks aimed at ending the U.S.-China trade war. According to Reuters:5

Arctic Fuji is third variety Okanagan Specialty Fruits has been approved to grow.

Through biotechnology, the enzyme in Arctic apples responsible for browning has been turned off, which OSF said can significantly impact unnecessary food waste when it comes to apples that would normally get thrown out after they have turned brown from getting bruised, sliced or bitten, enabling the unique non-browning trait to benefit every sector of the supply chain.

Latham: “My interview with Sasha Lilley of KPFA on the systemic collusion of EPA with the chemical testing laboratories and the chemical industry.”

The EPA and the Chemical Industry: A Cosy Alliance

The Environmental Protection Agency is tasked with safeguarding the public from toxic exposure. But Jonathan Latham, executive director of the Bioscience Research Project, says that The Poison Papers — an enormous trove of documents — indicate that the EPA and the chemical industry often work hand in hand to mislead us into thinking that toxic chemicals are safe for human use.

“Everyone had always thought that because these are intended to work on the surface of the skin that they wouldn’t be absorbed, but they are,” says Theresa Michele, director of the FDA’s division of nonprescription drug products, and coauthor on the FDA-funded study. Her team found that it took only a few hours after the application of sunscreen for the photoprotective chemicals to infiltrate the bloodstream and shoot up to concentrations above the FDA’s toxicology threshold that triggers further safety testing.

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Bayer AG was ordered to pay more than $2 billion in damages to a California couple that claimed they got cancer as a result of using the company’s Roundup weedkiller for about 30 years.

It’s the largest jury award in the U.S. so far this year and the eighth-largest ever in a product-defect claim, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bayer has now lost three trials in a row over claims Roundup causes cancer.

A jury in state court in Oakland, California, issued the verdict Monday after two other California trials over the herbicide yielded combined damages of $159 million against the company. Bayer is appealing those verdicts and vowed to challenge Monday’s as well, calling it “excessive and unjustifiable.”

The verdict “conflicts directly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s interim registration review decision released just last month, the consensus among leading health regulators worldwide that glyphosate-based products can be used safely and that glyphosate is not carcinogenic,” Bayer said in a statement.

When the company’s lawyer asked a juror after the verdict what the panel wanted to hear from Bayer, the juror responded that he wanted proof the chemical was safe: “I wanted you to get up and drink it.” The juror declined to be identified.

For Bayer on Trial, Weeding Out Roundup-Wary Jurors Isn’t Easy

The jurors agreed that Alva and Alberta Pilliod’s exposure to Roundup used for residential landscaping was a “substantial factor” in their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In addition to $1 billion for each spouse, the jury awarded damages of about $55 million for the couple’s medical bills and pain and suffering.

The verdict will be vulnerable to a legal challenge by Bayer because courts have generally held that punitive damages shouldn’t be more than 10 times higher than compensatory damages.

Monsanto Co., the maker of Roundup acquired by Bayer last June, is the named defendant in similar U.S. lawsuits filed by at least 13,400 plaintiffs.

“The verdict in this trial has no impact on future cases and trials, as each one has its own factual and legal circumstances,” Bayer said in its statement.

While it was a “risky move” to ask for an award of more than $1 billion -- and the damages will probably be reduced by the judge -- the three verdicts against Bayer show jurors are convinced by evidence against the company, said Anna Pavlik, senior counsel for special situations at United First Partners LLC in New York.

“In this case there appeared to be more detailed evidence damaging to Monsanto, which strengthens plaintiffs’ cases down the pipeline even further,” said Pavlik, who has followed the trials.